THE  SECEET  BOOK 

OP 

THE^^  BLACK  ARTS. 

CONTAINTNG  AXL  THAT  IS  KNOWN  UPON 

THE  OCCULT  SCIENCES  OF    D.EMCNOLOGY,  SPTKIT 
EAPriNGS,  WITCHCiiAFT,  SOKCEllY,  ASTKOLOGY, 
TAL^kllSrilY,  MIND  READING,  SPIRITUALISM, 
TABLE  TURNING,  GHOSTS  AND  APPAR- 
ITIONS,  OMENS,  LUCKY  AND  UN- 
LUCKY SIGNS  AND  DAYS, 
DREAMS,  CHARMS, 

DIVINATION,  SECOND  SIGH  T,  MESMERISM,  CLAIRVOY 
ANCE,  PSYCHOLOGICAL  FASCINATION,  ETC. 

ALSO  GIVING  FULL  I^•FC^.JIAT^ON  AEOCT  THE 

WoNPT.T^FUL  Akts  OF  Tkansmutino  Bafe  TO  PEECiors  Metals 
AND  THE  Actual  Manufacture  of  the  Puecious  Gems, 

SUCH  AS 

JASPER,  nJBY,  EMELALD,  OJFX,  AMETUYST, 
J  QAPrniBE,  ETC.,  ETC. 

Together  witli  a  mass  of  other  matter 
CtTVTNG  INNER  YILVrS  OF  TEE  ARIS  AND  SCIEN'CES 
wnETHEB  elcondite  akd  cescuue,  oe  plain  and 

PK^  CXICAL. 


New  Yoek: 
HURST  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS, 

122  Nassau  Stkest, 


CoiJj'rij^Ut  1876,  oy  Hurst  ic  Co. 


PREFACE. 


We  need  malce  no  apology  for  introducing  this  book  to  th« 
public.  The  subjects  treated  of  are  of  so  deeply  interesting  a 
nature  that  they  have  ever  engaged,  and  ever  will  engage  the  at- 
tention of  every  thinking  being.  They  are  themes  that  never 
can  bo  buried  out  of  sight.  They  demand  our  close  attention. 
We  must  face  them  all:  willingly  or  unwillingly.  Much  of  the 
vast  amount  of  information  to  be  found  in  the  following  pages 
has  been  dilligently  and  laboriously  culled  from  the  great  store- 
house ot  facts  accumulated  by  men  who  have  devoted  their  time, 
energies  and  learning  to  prove,  investigate,  and  explain  tht 
various  deep  and  mystical  beliefs  and  practices  so  universally 
and  expressively  designated  the  "  Black  Arts." 

All  those  dark  mysteries  that  have  captivated  the  imaginations, 
stimulated  the  investigations,  and  often  baffled  the  keenest  in- 
tellectual acumen  of  both  by-gone  and  modern  philosophers 
are  here  revealed  in  all  their  naked  truthfulness.  The  fleshy 
integuments  are  stripped  away,  and  the  skeleton  itself  revealed. 

This  book  is  written  in  the  interest  of  no  sect  or  party  in  re- 
ligion or  science.  All  the  following  subjects  are  treated  of  fully, 
fairly,  candidly  and  exhaustively:  Sorcery,  Astrology,  Mind- 
Eeading,  Midnight  Apparitions,  tho  Churchyard  Ghost,  the 


Threatening  Omen,  the  Unlucky  Day,  the  Cattle-Charm,  thfli 
Spell  on  the  Living,  the  Second-Sight  ot  the  Highland  Seer,  the 
Clairvoyance  of  modern  Times,  the  Table-Tippings.  These, 
however,  are  but  a  very  few  of  the  subjects,  described  and  dis- 
cussed in  these  pages,  There  is  no  dodging  any  question  how- 
ever enshrined  by  superstition,  and  no  attacking  of  any  belief 
simply  because  it  is  the  belief  of  some  confiding  souls.  Many 
of  the  most  awful  and  tsriible  secietj  ^re  icalt  with  in  a  fearless 
but  honest  manner.  The  belief,  for  instance,  in  the  visits  of 
departed  spirits  to  those  still  in  the  flesh  is  treated  with  that 
fairness  and  impartiality  that  should  ever  be  atccrdcd  to  the 
faith  held  by  a  large  body  of  honest  people.  We  have  been 
forced  to  tear  down  many  a  ricketty  pile  merely  upheld  by  its 
antiquity  and  turned  the  calcium  light  of  truth  upon  the  scat- 
tering rats  and  bats  of  superstition.  Cn  tie  other  hand  we  are 
compelled  to  admit  that  some  secrets  are  too  deep  and  profound 
to  be  explained  satisfactorily  by  the  sharpest  human  intel- 
lect. 

But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  this  book  deals  mainly  with 
ideas  and  beliefs.  Many  practical,  useful  money-making  Arts 
are  fully  described,  and  the  proper  manner  in  which  to  practice 
them  clearly  explained. 

We  commend  this  book,  in  all  honesty,  to  every  fearless  soul 
■who  is  willing  to  accept  our  guidance,  and  who  is  resolved  to 
investigate  for  himself  every  subject  that  mortal  man  feels 
touches  his  pocket,  his  principles  and  his  happiness. 

The  AuTBoiL 


THE  BLACK  ART. 


SORCERY  AND  WITCHCRAFT. 

Waivino  the  consideration  of  the  many  controversies  formerly 
kept  up  on  this  subject,  founded  on  misinterpretation  of  various 
passages  in  the  sacred  writings,  it  is  my  purpose  in  the  present 
section  to  consider  witchcraft  only  as  a  striking  article  of  popu- 
lar mythology;  which,  however,  bids  fair  in  another  century  to 
be  entirely  forgotten. 

"Witchcraft  is  defined  by  Reginald  Scot,  in  his  Discovery,  p. 
284,  to  be,  "  in  estimation  of  the  vulgar  i)eople,  a  supernatural 
work  between  a  corporal  old  woman  and  a  spiritual  devil;"  but, 
he  adds,  speaking  his  own  sentiments  on  tho  subject,  •*  it  is,  in 
truth,  a  cozening  art,  wherein  tho  name  of  God  is  abused,  i)ro- 
phaned,  and  blasphemed,  and  his  power  attributed  to  a  vile 
creature."  Perkins  defines  witchcraft  to  be  "  an  art  serving  for 
the  working  of  wonders  by  the  assistance  of  the  Devil,  so  far  as 
God  will  permit;*'  and  Delrio,  an  art  in  which,  by  the  power 
of  the  contract  entered  into  with  the  Devil,  some  wonders  are 
wrought  which  pass  the  common  understanding  of  men." 

Witc'icraft,  in  modera  estimation,  is  a  kind  of  sorcery  (espec- 
ially in  M'omea),  in  which  it  is  ridiculously  supposed  that  an 
old  woman,  by  entering  into  a  contract  with  th«  Dovil,  is  ta- 


8 


SORCEnr  AND  WITCirCBAFT. 


abled  in  many  instances  to  change  the  course  of  Nature,  to  raise 
winds,  perform  actions  that  require  more  than  human  strength, 
and  to  afflict  those  that  offend  her  w  ith  the  sharpest  pains. 

King  James's  reason,  in  his  Dsenionology,  why  there  are  or 
■were  twenty  women  given  to  witchcraft  for  one  man,  is  curious. 
"  The  reason  is  easy,"  as  this  sagacious  monarch  thinks,  "  for, 
AS  that  sex  is  frailer  than  man  is,  so  is  it  easier,  to  be  entranped 
in  these  gross  snares  of  the  Divell,  as  was  over  well  proved  to 
be  true  by  the  serpent's  deceiving  of  Eva  at  the  beginning, 
which  makes  him  the  homelier  with  that  sexe  sensine."  His 
majesty,  in  this  work,  quaintly  calls  the  Devil  "  God's  ape  end 
hangman.'" 

Gibbon,  in  his  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Reman  E:npire,  vili. 
ed.  1789-90,  p.  157,  speaking  of  the  laws  of  the  Lombards,  a.d. 
643,  tells  us  :  The  ignorance  of  the  Lombards,  in  the  state  of 
Paganism  or  Christianity,  gave  implicit  credit  to  the  malice  and 
mischief  of  witchcraft  ;  but  the  judges  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury might  have  been  instructed  and  confounded  by  the  wis- 
dom of  Rotharis,  who  de/ides  the  absurd  superstition,  and  pro- 
tects the  wretched  victims  of  popular  or  judicial  cruelty."  He 
adds  in  a  note  :  "See  Leges  Rotharis,  No.  379,  p.  47.  Striga  is 
used  as  the  name  of  witch.  It  is  of  the  purest  classic  origin 
(Horat.  Epod.  v.  20  ;  Petron.  c.  134)  ;  and  from  the  words  of 
Petronius  (quaa  Striges  comederunt  nervos  tuos?)  it  may  be  in- 
ferred that  the  prejudice  was  of  Italian  rather  than  barbaric 
extraction." 

Gaule,  in  his  Select  Cases  of  Conscience,  touching  Witches 
and  "Witchcrafts,  1G46,  observes,  p.  4 ,  "In  every  place  and 
parish,  every  old  woman  with  a  wrinkled  face,  a  furred  brow,  a 
hairy  lip,  a  gobber  tooth,  a  squint  eye,  a  squeaking  voice,  a 
scolding  tongue,  having  a  rugged  coate  on  her  her  back,  a  skud- 
cap  on  her  head,  a  spindle  in  her  hand,  a  dog  or  cat  by  her 
side,  is  not  only  suspected  but  pronounced  lor  a  witch.  *  *  ♦ 
Every  new  dicease,  notable  accident,  miracle  of  Nature,  rarity 
of  art,  nay,  and  strange  work  or  just  judgment  cf  God,  is  by 
them  accounted  for  no  other  but  an  act  or  effect  of  witchcraft** 
He  says,  p.  10  :  Some  say  the  devill  was  the  first  witch  when 
he  plaied  the  imposter  with  our  first  parents,  possessing  tho 


SORCERY  AND  WITCHCRAFT. 


cerpent  (as  his  impe)  to  their  delusion  (Gen.  iii.)  :  and  it  ii 
•whispered  that  our  grandame  Eve  was  a  lictle  guilty  of  such 
kind  of  society." 

Henry  in  his  history  of  Great  Britain,  iv.  543,  4to.,  speaking 
of  our  manners  between  a.d.  1399  and  1485,  says  :  "  There  was 
not  a  man  then  in  England  who  entertained  the  least  doubt  of 
;jic  reality  of  sorcery,  necromancy,  and  other  diabolical  arts." 

According  to  the  popular  belief  on  this  subject,  there  are 
three  sorts  of  witches  :  the  first  kind  can  hurt  but  not  help,  and 
are  with  singular  propriety  called  the  black  witches. 

The  second  kind,  very  properly  called  white  ones,  have  gifts 
directly  opposite  to  those  of  the  fomier  ;  they  can  help  but  not 
hurt, 

Gauie,  as  cited  before,  says;  "Accoiding  to  the  vulgar  con- 
ceit, distinction  is  usually  made  between  the  white  and  tho 
hlack  ucitch  ;  the  good  and  the  bad  witch.  The  odd  witch  they 
are  wont  to  call  him  or  her  that  workes  malefice  or  mischiefe  to 
the  bodies  of  men  or  beasts  ;  the  good  witch  they  count  him  or 
her  that  helps  to  reveale,  prevcnr,  or  remove  the  same." 

Cotla,  in  the  Tryall  of  Witchcraft,  p.  CO,  says  :  "Thiskinde 
is  not  obscure,  at  this  day  swarming  in  this  kingdom,  whereof 
no  man  can  be  ignorant  who  lusteth  to  observe  the  uncon- 
trouled  liberty  and  licence  of  open  and  ordinary  resort  in  all 
places  unto  wise  men  and  wise  women,  so  vulgarly  termed  for 
their  reputed  knowledge  concerning  such  deceased  persons  as 
are  supposed  to  be  bewitched,"  The  same  author,  in  his  Short 
Discoverie  of  Unobserved  Dangers,  1612,  p.  71,  says  :  "The 
mention  of  witchcraft  doth  now  occasion  the  remembrance  in 
the  next  place  of  a  sort  (company)  of  practitioners  whom  our 
custome  and  country  doth  call  wise  men  and  wise  women,  re- 
puted a  kind  of  good  and  honest  harmless  witches  or  wizards, 
who  by  good  words,  by  hallowed  herbcs  and  salves,  and  other 
superstitious  ceremonies,  promise  to  allay  and  calme  divels, 
practices  of  other  witches,  and  the  forces  of  many  diseases," 

Perkins  by  Pickering,  8vo,  Cambr.  IGlO,  p.  256,  eoncludea 
with  observing  :  "It  were  a  thousand  times  better  for  the  land 
if  ail  witches,  but  especially  the  blessing  witch,  might  suffer 
death.    Men  doe  commonly  hate  and  spit  at  the  damnifying  sor- 


IS 


BORCERT  AXD  WITCHCRAFT. 


etrer,  m  unworthie  to  live  among  them,  -wbereag  tbey  flic  untc 
the  other  in  necessitie,  tbey  depciicl  upon  bim  as  tbeir  God, 
and  by  tbis  meaner  tbousands  are  cnriied  aw  ay  to  tbeir  finall 
confusion.  Deatb,  therefore,  is  the  just  and  deserved  portion 
•f  ihe  good  wUch." 

Baxter,  in  bis  "World  of  Spirits,  p.  184,  speaks  of  those  men 
that  tell  men  of  things  stolen  and  lost,  and  that  show  men  the 
face  of  a  thief  in  a  glass,  and  cause  the  goods  to  be  brought 
back,  who  are  commonly  called  ichUe  witches.  "  "When  I  lived," 
he  says,  "  at  Dudley,  Hodges,  at  Sedglej-,  two  miles  off,  was 
long  and  commonly  accounted  such  a  one,  and  when  I  lived  at 
Kederminster,  one  of  my  neighbors  affirmed,  that,  having  bis 
yam  stolen,  be  went  tollodges  (ten  miles  off,\  and  bo  told  bim 
that  at  such  an  hour  be  should  have  it  brought  home  rgain  and 
put  in  at  the  window,  and  so  it  was  ;  and  as  I  remember  be 
showed  bim  the  person's  face  in  a  glass.  Yet  I  do  not  think 
that  Hodges  made  any  known  contract  with  the  devil,  but 
thought  it  an  effect  of  art.' 

The  third  species,  as  a  mixture  of  white  and  black,  are  styled 
the  gray  witches  ;  for  they  can  both  help  and  hurt. 

Thus  the  tnd  and  effect  of  witchcraft  seems  to  be  sometimes 
good  and  sometimes  the  direct  contrary.  In  the  first  case  the 
sick  are  healed,  thieves  are  bewrayed,  and  true  men  come  to 
their  goods.  In  the  second,  men,  women,  children,  or  animals 
as  also  grass,  trees  or  corn,  &c.,  are  hurt. 

The  Laplanders,  says  Schefifer,  have  a  cord  tied  with  knots  for 
the  raising  of  the  wind  :  they,  as  Ziegler  relates  it,  tie  three  ma- 
gical knots  in  tbis  cord  :  when  tbey  untie  the  first  there  blows 
a  favorable  gale  of  wind  ;  when  the  second,  a  brisker  ;  when  the 
third,  the  sea  and  wind  grow  mighty,  stormy,  and  tempestuous. 
This,  he  adds,  that  wo  have  reported  concerning  the  Laplan- 
ders, does  not  in  fact  belong  to  them,  but  to  the  Finlanders  of 
Norwav,  because  no  other  writers  mention  it,  and  because  the 
Laplanders  live  in  and  iuland  country.  However,  the  method 
of  selling  winds  is  tbis  :  "  They  deliver  a  small  rope  with  three 
knots  upon  it,  with  this  caution,  that  when  they  loose  the  first 
they  shall  have  a  good  wind;  if  the  second,  a  stronger;  if  the 
third,  such  a  storm  will  arise  that  they  can  neither  see  how  to 


soncrnr  Ayp  witciicbaft. 


11 


direct  the  sliip  nnd  ftvoid  rocks,  or  so  much  ns  stand  upon  lb© 
decks,  or  handle  the  tackling."  The  same  is  admitted  by  King 
James  in  his  Dsemonology,  p.  117. 

The  following  passage  is  from  Scot's  Discovery,  p.  33:  '*  No 
one  endued  with  common  sense  but  w  ill  deny  that  the  elements 
are  obedient  to  witches  and  at  their  commandment,  or  that  they 
may,  at  their  pleasure,  send  rafn,  hail,  tempests,  thunder,  light- 
ning, when  she,  being  but  an  old  doting  w  oman,  casteth  a  flint 
stone  over  her  left  shoulder  towards  the  west,  or  hurleth  a  little 
sea-sand  up  into  the  dement,  or  wetteih  a  brccm^piigin  water 
and  sprinkleth  the  s  ame  in  the  air;  or  diggeth  a  pit  in  the  earth, 
and,  putting  water  therein,  stirreth  it  about  with  her  finger;  or 
boileth  hog's  bristles;  or  layeth  sticks  across  upon  a  bank  "wher© 
never  a  drop  of  water  is;  or  bury eth  sage  till  it  be  rotten:  all 
which  things  are  confessed  by  witches,  and  affirmed  by  writers 
to  be  the  means  that  witches  use  to  move  extraordinary  tempests 
and  rain." 

Ignorance,"  says  Osboume;  in  his  Advice  to  his  Son,  8vo. 
Oxf.  1CC6,  reports  of  witches  that  they  are  unable  to  hurt  till 
they  have  received  nn  nlmes;  which,  though  ridiculous  in  it- 
selfe,  yet  in  this  sense  is  verified,  that  charity  seldom  goes  to 
the  gate  but  it  meets  with  ingratitude,"  p.  94. 

Spotiswood,  as  cited  1  y  Andrews,  in  Lis  Continuation  of 
Henry's  History  of  Great  Britain,  p.  t.CZ,  snys,  In  the  North  " 
(of  Britain)  there  were  '*  matron-like  witches  and  ignorant 
witches."  It  was  to  one  of  the  superior  sort  that  Satan,  being 
pressed  to  kill  James  the  Sixth,  thus  excused  himself  in  French, 
"  II  est  homme  de  Dieu." 

Camden,  in  his  Ancient  and  Modem  Manners  of  the  Irish 
says:  "  If  a  cow  becomes  dry,  a  w  itch  is  applied  to,  who,  in- 
spiring her  with  a  londness  for  some  other  calf,  makes  her  yield 
her  milk."  (Gough's  Camden,  iii.  C59.)  He  tells  us,  ibid. : 
"  The  women  who  are  turned  off  (by  their  husbands)  have  re- 
course to  witches,  who  are  supposed  to  inflict  barrenness,  impo- 
tence, or  the  most  dangerous  diseases,  on  the  former  husband 
or  his  new  wife."  Also,  "They  account  every  woman  who 
fetches  fire  on  May-day  a  witch,  nor  will  they  give  it  to  any  but 
sick  persons,  and  that  with  An  imprecation,  believing  she  will 


12 


SORCERY  Ay D  WITCHCRAFT 


steal  all  the  butter  next  summer.  On  May-day  they  liill  all 
hares  they  find  among  their  cattle,  supi-)osing  them  the  old  wo- 
men who  have  designs  on  the  butter.  They  imagine  the  butter 
60  stolen  may  be  recovered  if  they  take  some  of  the  thatch  hang- 
ing over  the  door  and  burn  it. 

The  mode  of  becoming  a  witch,  according  to  Grose,  is  as  fol- 
lows: A  decrepit  8uperanuated  old  woman  is  tempted  by  a 
man  in  black  to  sign  a  contract  to  become  his  both  soul  and  body. 
On  the  conclusion  of  the  agreement  he  gives  her  a  piece  of 
money,  and  causes  her  to  write  her  name  and  make  her  mark  on 
a  slip  of  parchment  with  her  own  blood.  Sometimes,  also,  on 
this  occasion,  the  witch  uses  the  ceremony  of  putting  one  hand 
to  the  sole  of  her  foot,  and  the  other  to  the  crown  of  her  head. 
On  departing,  he  delivers  to  her  an  imp  or  familiar.  The  fam- 
iliar, in  the  shape  of  a  cat  or  a  kitten,  a  mole,  millerfly,  or  some 
other  insect  or  animal,  at  stated  times  of  the  day,  BV.cks  he 
blood  through  teats  on  different  jiarts  of  her  body."  There  is  a 
great  variety  of  the  names  of  these  imps  or  familiars. 

A  witch,"  (as  I  read  in  the  curious  tract  entitled,  Eound 
about  our  Coal  Fire,)  "  according  to  my  nurse's  account,  must 
be  a  haggard  old  woman,  living  in  a  little  rotten  cottage,  under 
a  hill,  by  a  wood-side,  and  must  be  frequently  si)inning  at  the 
door;  she  must  have  a  black  cat,  two  or  three  broomsticks,  an 
imp  or  two,  and  two  or  three  diabolical  teats  to  suckle  her  imps. 
She  must  be  of  so  dry  a  nature,  that  if  j'ou  lling  her  into  a  river 
she  will  not  sink;  so  hard  then  is  her  fate,  that,  if  she  is  to  un- 
dergo the  trial,  if  she  does  not  drown,  she  must  be  burnt,  as 
many  have  been  within  the  memory  of  man." 

In  the  Relation  of  the  Swedish  Witches,  at  the  end  of  Glan- 
vil's  Sadducismus  Triumphatus,  we  are  told  that  "  the  devil 
gives  them  a  beast  about  the  bigness  r.nd  shape  cf  a  yoi:ng  cat 
which  they  call  a  carrier.  "What  this  carrier  brings  they  must 
receive  for  the  devil.  These  carriers  fill  themselves  so  full 
sometimes,  that  they  are  forced  to  spew  by  the  way,  which 
spewing  is  found  in  several  gardens  where  colworts  grow,  and 
not  far  from  the  houces  of  those  witches.  It  is  of  a  yellow  color 
like  gold,  and  is  called  '  butter  of  witches,'"  p.  •494,  Probably 


SORCZnT  AXD  WITCHCRAFT. 


13 


this  is  the  s<ame  substance  w  hicli  is  called  in  Nortlibnmberland, 
fairy  butter. 

Ill  a  Discourse  of  "Witcbcra(t,  MS.,  communicated  by  Jobn 
Pinkerton,  Esq.,  written  by  Mr.  John  Bell,  Minister  of  the 
Gospel  at  Gladsmuir,  17C5,  p.  J3,  on  the  sr.l  jcct  of  witcbes 
marks,  I  read  as  follows  :  "  This  mark  is  sometimes  like  a  littlo 
teat,  sometimes  like  a  ble wish  spot:  and  I  myself  have  seen  it 
in  the  body  of  a  confessing  witch  like  a  little  powder-mark  of  ft 
blea  (blue)  color,  somewhat  hard,  and  withal  insensible,  so  as  ik 
did  not  bleed  when  I  pricked  it." 

From  the  News  from  Scotland.  <tc.,  1591  (  a  tract  which  will 
be  noticed  more  fully  hereafter),  it  appears  that,  having  tortured 
in  vain  a  suspected  witch  with  the  "  ])illiwimcke3  upon  her 
fingers,  which  is  a  gvevious  torture,  and  binding  or  v.renching 
her  head  with  a  cord  or  rope,  which  is  a  most  cruel  torture  also, 
they,  upon  search,  found  the  enemy's  mark  to  be  in  herforecrag. 
Of  forepart  of  her  throat,  and  then  she  confessed  all."  In  another 
the  devils  mark  was  found  upon  her  privities. 

The  Sabbath  of  witches  is  a  meeting  to  which  the  sisterhood, 
after  having  been  annointed  with  certain  magical  ointments,  pro- 
vided by  their  infernal  leader,  are  supposed  to  be  earned  through 
the  air  on  brooms,  conl-staves,  spits,  &c, 

lleginald  Scot,  in  bis  Discovery  ot  Witchcraft,  b.  iii.  c.  i.  p..  40i 
speaking  of  the  vulgar  opinion  of  witches  flying,  observes  that 
"the  devil  teacliefh  them  to  make  oinlment  of  the  bowels  and 
members  of  children,  whereby  they  ride  in  the  air  and  accom- 
plish all  their  desires.  After  burial  they  steal  them  out  of  their 
graves  and  seeth  them  in  a  cauldron,  till  the  flesh  be  made  pot- 
able, of  which  they  make  an  ointment  by  which  they  ride  in  tho 
air."  Wierus  exposes  the  folly  of  this  opinion  in  his  book  De 
Prgestigiis  Doemonum,  proving  it  to  be  a  diabolical  illusion,  and 
to  be  acted  upon  only  in  a  dream.  And  it  is  exposed  as  such  by 
Oldham  (Works,  Gth  edit.  p.  254) : 

"Am  men  in  sleep,  though  motionless  they  lie, 
Fletlj^'d  by  a  dream,  believe  they  mount  and  flye; 
So  ■^iiches  some  enchanted  wand  bestride. 
And  tl:;uk  they  through  the  airy  regions  ride." 
Lord  VervL'am  tells  us  that  "  the  ointment  that  witches  uses  is 


14  SOnCELY  AXD  WITCHCRAFT. 

reported  to  be  made  of  the  fat  of  cbiklrcn  digged  ont  of  their 
graves;  of  the  j  •.ices  of  smalkge,  woU  hr.ne,  rnd  cinqnefoil, 
mingled  with  the  merJ  of  line  -wheat;  hwt  I  suppose  the  sopori- 
ferous  medicines  .ire  likest  to  do  it,  \vhich,  nre  henbane,  hem- 
lock, mandrake,  moonshadc  or  rather  nightshade,  tobacco,  opium, 
saffron,  poplar-leaves,  <f:c." 

There  had  been  abunt  the  time  of  Lord  Verulam  no  small  stir 
concerning  v.-;t jhcraft.  "Ten  Jensen,  "  says  Dr.  Percy,  "has 
left  us  a  uitch  song  \vLich  ccntnins  nn  rxtract  from  the  various 
incantations  of  cls.ssicantiqui:3\  Some  learned  wise-ncreshad  just 
before  busied  Cueinselvesoii  thi.^  sabjoct,  with  oar  British  SjIo- 
mon,  James  the  First  at  their  head.  And  these  had  so  ransacked 
all  writers,  ancient  and  modern,  .and  so  blended  and  kneaded 
together  the  sever;il  superstitions  of  difTerent  times  and  nations, 
that  those  of  genuine  English  growth  could  no  longer  be  traced 
out  and  distinguished." 

The  Witch  Song  in  Macbeth  is  superior  to  this  of  Ben  Jonson. 
The  metrical  incant.ations  in  Middleton's  Y/itch  are  also  very  cu- 
rious. As  the  play  is  not  much  known,  the  following  is  given 
as  a  specimen  of  his  incantations; 


1  WUch.  Here's  the  blood  of  a  bat. 

Ilec.  Put  in  that,  oh  jiut  in  that. 

2  Witch.  Here's  libbard  s  bane. 

Ilec.  Put  iu  ngaino. 

1  Wilch.  The  juice  of  to.ade,  the  oil  of  .adder. 

2  Witch.  Those  will  make  the  yonker  madder. 
Jlec.  Put  in;  titer's  all,  and  rid  tlie  stencdi; 
Firestone.  Nay,  here's  three  ounces  of  the  red-hair'd  ■wench. 
Ail.  Bound,  around,  around,"  &c. 


At  these  meetings  they  have  feastings,  music,  and  dancing, 
the  devil  Liinself  condescending  to  jilay  at  them  on  th^  pipes  or 
cittern.  They  afterwards  in-oceed  at  these  assemblies  to  the 
gi'ossest  impurities  and  immoralities,  and  it  may  bo  added 
blasphemies,  as  the  devil  sometimes  preaches  to  t^iem  a  mock 
sermon. 

The  Sabbath  of  the  witches  is  supposed  to  be  held  on  a  S.atur- 
day ;  when  the  devil  is  by  some  said  to  appear  in  the  shape  of  a 
goat,  about  whom  severrd  dr.ncrs  and  mr.gic  ceremonies  are  per- 
formed. Before  the  assembly  breaks  up,  the  witches  are  all  said 


soncEnr  ASD  mrciicnAFZ 


to  bave  tlie  honor  of  R.iluting  Satan's  posteriors.  (See  King 
James's  remarks  on  this  subject  iu  his  D^Bmonolog3^)  Satan  is 
reported  to  have  been  so  ninch  out  of  humor  at  some  of  these 
meetings,  that,  for  his  diversion,  he  woukl  beat  the  witches  black 
and  bine  with  the  spits  and  brooms,  the  vehiclss  of  their  trans- 
portation, and  play  them  divers  other  unlucky  tricks.  There  is 
a  Scottish  proverb,  "Ye  breed  of  the  witches,  ye  can  do  nao 
good  to  yoursel." 

They  afterwards  open  graves  for  the  purpose  of  taking  out 
joints  of  the  lingers  and  toes  of  dead  bodies,  with  some  of  the 
winding-sheet,  in  order  to  prepare  a  powder  for  their  magical 
purposes.  Here  also  the  devil  distributes  apples,  dishes,  spoons» 
or  other  triHes,  to  those  witches  who  desire  to  torment  any  par. 
ticular  person,  to  whom  they  must  present  them.  Here  also, 
for  similar  purposes,  the  devil  baptises  waxen  images.  King 
James,  in  his  Dcemonology,  book  ii.  chap.  5,  tells  us  that  "  the 
devil  teaeheth  how  to  make  pictures  of  wax  or  clay,  that  by 
roasting  thereof,  the  persons  t'aat  they  bear  the  name  ol  may  bo 
continually  melted  or  dried  away  by  continual  sickness." 

It  appears  from  Strype's  Annnls  of  the  lleformation,  i.  8,  un- 
der anno  1558,  that  Bishop  Jewel,  preaching  before  the  queen, 
said;  *'  It  may  i)lease  your  grace  to  understand  th:.t  witches  and 
sorcerers  within  these  lew  last  year>4  arc  marvellously  increjised 
within  your  Grace's  realm.  Your  Grace's  subjects  pine  away, 
even  unto  the  death,  their  color  fadeth,  their  ilesh  rolteth,  their 
speech  is  benumbed,  their  senses  are  berett.    I  pray  God  they 

never  practice  further  than  upon  the  subject  This,"  Strypo 

adds,  I  make  no  doubt  was  the  occasion  of  bringing  in  a  bill, 
the  next  parliament,  for  making  enchantments  and  witchcraft 
felony."  One  of  the  bishop's  strong  expressions  is,  "These  eyes 
bave  seen  most  evident  and  manifesl  marks  of  their  wicked- 
ness." 

Andrews,  in  his  Continuation  of  Henry's  History  of  Great 
Britain,  4to,  p.  93,  tells  us.  speaking  of  Ferdinand  Earl  of 
Derby,  who  in  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  died  by  poison  ; 
"The  credulity  of  the  ago  attributed  bis  death  to  witchcraft. 
The  disease  was  odd,  and  operated  as  a  perpetual  emetic  ;  and 


16 


SORCEIlTAyD  WITCnCRAFT 


a  waxen  image  wUh  hair  like  ihat  of  the  imfortunate  earl,  found  in 
his  chamber,  reduced  every  suspicion  of  certainty." 

Blagrave,  in  his  Astrological  Practice  of  Pbysiclr,  p.  89, 
observes  that  "the  -way  which  the  witches  usually  take  for  to 
afflict  man  or  beast  in  this  kind  is,  as  I  conceive,  done  by 
image  or  model,  made  in  the  likeness  of  that  man  or  beast 
th3y  intend  to  work  mischief  upon,  and  by  the  subtilty  of  the 
devil  made  .\t  such  hours  and  times  when  it  shall  work  most 
powerfully  upon  them  by  thorn,  pin,  or  needle,  pricked  into 
that  limb  or  member  of  the  body  afflicted." 

Coles,  in  his  Art  of  Simpling,  p.  C6,  says  that  witches  **  take 
likewise  the  roots  of  mandrake,  according  to  some,  or  as  I 
rather  suppose  the  roots  of  hriony,  which  simple  folks  take 
for  the  trxi9>  mandrake,  and  make  thereof  an  ugly  image,  by 
which  they  represent  the  person  on  whom  they  intend  to 
exercise  their  witchcraft."  H3  tells  us,  ibi.l,  p.  2G  ;  "Some 
plants  have  roots  with  a  number  of  threads,  like  beards,  as 
mandrakes,  whereof  witches  and  impostors  make  an  ugly 
image,  giving  it  the  form  of  the  face  at  the  the  top  of  the  root, 
and  leave  those  strings  to  make  a  broad  beard  down  to  the 
feet." 

Sometimes  witches  content  themselves  with  a  revenge  less 
mortal,  causing  the  objects  of  their  hatred  to  swallow  pins, 
crooked  nails,  dirt,  cinders,  and  trash  of  all  sorts  ;  or  by  dry- 
ing up  their  cows  and  killing  their  oxen  ;  or  by  preventing 
butter  from  coming  in  the  churn,  or  beer  from  working. 
Sometimes,  to  vex  squires,  justices,  and  country  parsons,  fond 
of  hunting,  they  change  themselves  into  hares,  and  elude  the 
speed  of  the  fleetest  dogs. 

It  was  a  supposed  remedy  against  witchcraft  to  put  some  of 
the  bewitched  person's  water,  with  a  quantity  of  pins,  needels, 
and  nails,  into  a  bottle,  cork  them  up,  and  set  them  before 
the  fire,  in  order  to  confine  the  spirit ;  but  this  sometimes  did 
not  prove  sufficient,  as  it  would  often  force  the  cork  out  with  a 
loud  noise,  like  that  of  a  pistol,  and  cast  the  contents  of  the 
bottle  to  a  considerable  height.    Bewitched  i^ersons  were  said 


SOnCERT  AXD  WITCIICEAFT. 


17 


to  fall  frequently  into  violent  fits  and  to  vomit  needles,  pins, 
Btones,  nails,  stiibbs,  wool,  and  straw. 

[Witchcraft.— Our  Wick  contemporary  gives  tbo  following 
recpnt  instance  of  gross  ignorance  and  credulii^y  ;  '-Not  far 
from  Louisbnrgli  there  lives  a  girl  who,  until  a  few  days  ago, 
was  suspected  of  being  a  witcb.  In  order  to  cure  ber  of  tbe 
Avitcbcraft,  a  neighbor  actually  put  bar  into  a  creed  balf-fiUed 
with  wood  and  shavings,  and  bung  ber  above  a  fire  setting  tbo 
sbavings  in  a  blaze.  Fortunately  for  tbe  child  and  himself 
she  was  not  injured,  and  it  is  said  that  tbe  gift  of  sorcery  has 
been  taken  away  from  ber.  At  all  events,  tbe  intelligent 
neighbors  aver  that  she  is  not  half  so  wiich-like  in  ber  appear- 
ance since  she  was  singed." — luterness  Courier, — Times,  Dec. 
8,  1845.] 

In  ancient  times  even  tbe  pleasures  of  tbe  chase  were 
checked  by  the  superstitions  concerning  witchcraft.  Thu-, 
in  Scott's  Discovery,  p.  152:  "That  naver  hunters  nor  their 
dogs  may  be  bewircbed,  they  cleave  an  oaken  branch,  and 
both  they  and  t  :eir  dogs  pass  over  it," 

Warner,  in  bis  Topographical  Remarks  relating  to  tbe  South- 
western Paris  of  Hampshire,  1793,  i.  241,  mtntioning  Mary 
Dore,  the  "parochial  witch  of  Beaulieu,"  who  died  about  half 
a  century  since,  saj's  :  '*  Her  spells  were  chiefly  used  for 
purposes  of  self-extrication  in  situations  of  danger;  and  I  bavo 
conversed  with  a  rustic  whose  father  had  seen  tlie  old  bidy  con- 
vert herself  more  than  once  into  the  form  of  a  bare,  or  cat, 
when  likely  to  be  appreliended  in  wood-stealing,  to  wliiob  sho 
was  somewhat  adv.icted."  Butler,  in  Lis  Hudibras,  II.  iii.  149, 
Ba>s,speaking  of  tbe  witch-finder,  that  of  witches  some  be  banged 

 "for  putHng  knavish  tricks 

Upon  green  geese  and  turkey-chicks, 

Or  pigs  that  suddenly  diseas'd 

Of  griefs  unnat'ral,  as  be  guess'd." 

Henry,  in  bis  History  of  Great  Britian,  i.  99,  mentions 
Pomponius  Mela  as  describing  a  Druidical  nunerj--,  which,  ha 
says  "was  situated  in  an  island  in  the  British  sea,  and  con- 
tained nine  of  these  venerable  vestals,  who  pretended  thai 


It 


SOnCEnTAXD  WITCnCTtAFT. 


they  could  raise  s'orms  and  tempests  by  their  incantations, 
could  cure  the  most  incurable  diseases,  could  transform  them- 
selves into  all  kinds  of  animals,  and  foresee  future  events." 

For  another  superstitious  notion  relating  to  the  enchant- 
ment of  witchraft,  see  Lupton's  First  Book  of  Notable 
Thing«»,  1C60,  p.  20,  No.  82.  See  also  Guil.  Varignana,  and 
Arnold  us  de  Villa  Nova. 

In  vexing  the  parties  troubled,  witches  are  visible  to  them 
only  ;  sometimes  such  parties  act  on  the  defensive  against  them, 
striking  at  them  with  a  knife,  &c. 

Preventives,  according  to  the  popular  belief,  are  scratching 
or  pricking  a  witch  ;  taking  the  wall  of  her  in  a  town  or  street, 
and  the  right  hand  of  her  in  a  lane  or  field  ;  while  passing  her, 
by  clinching  both  hauils,  doubling  the  thumbs  beneath  the 
fingers  ;  and  also  by  saluting  her  Avith  civil  words  before  she 
speaks  ;  but  no  presents  of  apples,  egg??,  or  other  things  must 
be  received  from  her  on  any  account. 

It  was  a  part  of  the  system  of  witchcraft  that  drawing  blood 
from  a  witch  rendered  her  enchantments  ineffectual,  as  appears 
from  the  following  authorities  :  In  Glanvill's  Account  of  the 
Daemon  of  Tedworth,  speaking  of  a  boy  that  was  bewitched,  he 
says  ;  "  The  boy  drew  towards  Jane  Brooks,  the  woman  who 
had  bewitched  him,  who  was  behind  her  two  sisters,  and  put 
his  hand  upon  her,  which  his  father  perceiving,  immediately 
scratched  her  face  and  drew  blood  from  her.  The  youth  then  cried 
out  that  he  was  well."  Blow  at  Modern  Sadducism,  12mo.  1668, 
p.  148, 

This  curious  doctri:.»e  is  very  fully  investigated  in  Hathaway's 
trial,  published  in  the  State  Trials.  The  following  passage  is  in 
Arise  Evan's  Echo  to  the  Voice  from  Heaven,  1632,  p.  34  ;  ''I 
had  heard  some  say  that,  when  a  witch  l^ad  power  over  one  to 
afflict  him,  if  he  could  but  draw  one  drop  of  the  wiich's  blood,  the 
witch  would  never  after  do  him  Luit." 

Scot,  in  his  Discovery,  p.  157,  says  :  "Men  are  preserved  from 
■witchcraft  by  sprinkling  of  holy  water,  receiving  consecrated 
salt,  by  candles  hallowed  on  Candlemas-day,  and  by  ^reen 
leavei  consecrated  on  Palm  Sunday."  Coles,  in  his  Art  of 


SOnCERT  AXD  WnCJICUAFT. 


19 


Simpling,  p.  C7,  tells  iis  that  "Mattliiolus  sailli  tbatberba  paris 
takes  awny  evil  done  hy  witchcraft,  niul  af&ims  that  be  knew  it 
to  be  true  by  experience."  Heath,  iu  bis  History  of  the  Sicilly 
Islands,  p.  1^0,  tells  us  that  "bome  few  of  the  inhabitants 
imagine  (but  mostly  old  women)  that  women  with  child,  and  the 
first-born,  are  exempted  from  the  power  of  witchcraft." 

I  find  the  subsequent  in  Scot's  Discovery  of  "Witchcraft,  p. 
152  :  "To  be  delivered  from  witches,  they  hang  in  their  entries 
an  herb  called  pentaphyllon,  cinquefoil,  also  an  olive  branch  » 
also  frankincense,  myrrh,  valerian,  verven,  palm,  antirchmon, 
&c. ;  also  hay-thorn,  otherwise  whitethorn,  gathered  on  May- 
day." He  tells  us,  p.  151  :  "Against  witches,  in  some  coun- 
tries, they  nail  a  wolfs  head  on  the  door.  Otherwise  they  hang 
sciUa  (which  is  either  a  root,  or  rather  in  this  place  garlick)  in  the 
roof  of  the  house,  to  keep  away  witches  and  spirits  ;  and  so  they 
do  alicium  also.  Item.  Perfume  made  of  the  gall  of  a  black  dog, 
and  his  blood  besmeared  on  the  posts  and  walls  of  the  housf, 
driveth  out  of  the  doors  both  devils  and  witches.  Otherwise  : 
the  house  where  herba  betonica  is  sown  is  free  from  all  mis- 
chiefs," <S:c. 

Various  were  the  modes  of  trying  witches.  This  was  some- 
times done  by  finding  private  marks  on  their  bodies  ;  at  others 
by  weighing  the  suspected  wretch  against  the  church  Bible* 
by  another  method  sho  was  made  to  say  the  Lord's  Prayer. f 
She  was  sometimes  forced  to  weep,  and  so  detected,  as  a  witch 
can  shed  no  more  than  three  tear^,  and  those  only  from  her  left 
eye.J  Swimming  a  witch  was  another  kind  of  popular  ordeab 
By  this  method  sho  was  handled  not  less  indecently  than 
cruelly  ;  for  she  was  stripped  naked  and  cross  bound,  the  right 
thumb  to  the  left  toe,  and  the  left  thumb  to  the  right  toe.  In 

t  Butler,  in  his  Hudibras,  part  I.  c.  iii.  1.  343,  alludes  to  this 
trial : 

"  He  that  gets  her  by  heart  must  say  her 
The  back  way,  like  a  witch's  prayer." 
t  King  James,  in  the  work  already  quoted,  adding  his  remark, 
on  this  mode  of  trying  witches,  says  :  "  They  cannot  even  shed 
tears,  though  wonipn  in  general  are  like  the  crocodile,  ready  to 
weep  upon  every  light  occasion." 


20 


SOnCEUT  AyD  WITCIICnAFT 


this  stale  she  was  cast  into  a  pond  or  ri\'er,  in  wliicli,  if  guilty, 
it  was  Ibouglit  imi^ossible  for  Lierto  sink. 

Among  the  presumptions  whereby  witches  were  condemned, 
what  horror  Avill  not  be  excited  at  reading  even  a  part  of  the  fol- 
lowing item  in  Scot's  Discovery,  p.  15  :  "  If  she  have  any  privy 
mark  under  her  armpit,  under  her  hair,under  her  lip,  or  *****, 
iL  is  presumpUon  siif/lcient  jor  'he  judge  to  proceed  and  give  sentence  rf 
Death  xtpon  her  Ey  the  following  caution,  p.  IG,  it  is  ordered 
that  the  witch  "  must  come  to  her  arreignment  backward,  to  wit, 
with  her  tail  to  the  judge's  face,  who  must  make  many  crosses 
at  tho  time  of  her  approaching  to  the  bar."  King  James  him- 
self, in  his  Dasmonology,  speaking  of  tho  helps  that  may  be- 
use.l  in  tho  trial  of  witches,  says,  "the  one  is,  tho  llnding  of 
their  markc  and  trying  ihe  insensihleness  thereof." 

G'rutt,  in  his  Description  of  the  Ordeals  under  the  Saxons, 
tells  us  that  "  the  r,econd  kind  of  ordeal,  by  water,  was  to  thrust 
the  accused  into  a  deep  water,  where,  if  ho  struggled  in  the  least 
to  keep  himself  on  the  surface,  he  was  accounted  guilty  ;  but  if 
ho  remained  on  top  of  the  Avater  without  motion  he  was 
acquitted  with  honor.  Hence,  he  observes,  Avithout  doubt, 
camo  the  long  continued  custom  of  swimming  people  suspected 
of  v.'itchcraft.  There  are  also,  he  further  observes,  the  faint 
trac23  of  these  ancient  customs  in  another  superstitious  method 
of  proving  a  witch.  It  was  done  by  weighing  the  suspected 
party  against  tho  church  Bible,  which  if  they  outweighed,  they 
were  innocent  ;  but,  on  the  contrary',  if  the  Bible  proved  tho 
heaviest,  they  were  instantly  condemned." 

In  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  Feb.  1759,  xxix.  93,  we  read  :  "One 
Susannah  Ilaynokes,  an  elderly  woman,  of  Wingrove,  near 
Aylesbury,  Bucks,  was  accused  by  a  neighbor  for  bewitching 
her  s^nnning-wheel,  so  that  she  could  not  make  it  go  round  and 
offered  to  make  oath  of  it  before  a  magistrate  ;  on  which  the 
husband,  in  order  to  j  astify  his  wife,  insisted  upon  her  being 
tried  by  the  church  Bible,  and  that  the  accuser  should  be 
present.  Accordingly  she  was  conducted  to  the  parish  church 
where  she  was  stripped  of  all  her  clothes,  to  her  shift  and  under 
cOat,  and  weighed  against  the  Bible  ;  when,  to  tho  no  small 


soncEnr  axd  wrrciicnAFT. 


21 


mortification  of  tlio  accuser,  sbo  outweigbecl  it,  and  was  lionor- 
ably  acquitted  of  the  cbargo." 

In  the  ^.IS.  Discoxirso  of  "Witchcraft,  communicated  by  JoliD 
Pinkerton  Esq.,  written  l;y  Mr  John  Bell,  minister  of  (he  gospel 
at  Gladsrauir,  1705,  p.  I  real  :  "Gyiuptoms  of  a  witch,  par- 
ticularly the  witches'  marhs,  mala  fa:ni,  inah'd'd j  to  shed  ieurr,  Izc, 
ell  of  them  providenti.il  discoveries  of  ko  ("lark  a  crime,  and 
which  like  avenues  lead  us  to  the  secret  of  i'." 

King  James,  in  his  Daimonolojy,  speaking  of  this  mode  of 
trying  a  witch,  i.  c,  •♦flaeting  on  the  v. ater,"  observes  that  "it 
appears  that  God  hath  appointed  for  a  supernatr.r.d  signo  of 
the  monstrous  impielio  of  witches,  that  the  water  shall  refuse  to 
receive  them  in  her  boscm  that  Lave  shaken  off  them  the  sacred 
water  of  baptism,  and  wilfully  refused  the  benefit  thereof." 

Other  methods  of  detecting  a  wilch  were  by  burning  the 
thatch  of  her  house,  or  by  burning  any  aniinrd  supposed  to  bo 
bewitched  by  her— as  a  hog  or  ox  :  these,  it  was  held,  would 
force  a  witch  to  confess.  There  vrero  other  modes  of  trial, 
by  the  stool,  and  by  shaving  off  every  hair  of  the  witch's  body. 
They  were  also  detected  by  putting  hair,  parings  of  the  nails, 
and  urino  of  any  jicrson  bewitched  into  a  btono  bottle,  and 
hanging  it  up  in  the  chimney. 

Cotta,  in  his  Short  Discoverie  of  the  Unobserved  Dangers,  p. 
54,  tells  us  :  "Neither  can  I  beleevc  (Ispeako  it  with  reverenco 
unto  graver  judgements)  that  the  forced  coming  of  men  or  Komen  lo 
the  burning  of  hewUched  caitdl,  or  to  the  burning  of  the  dung  or  vr  '.ne 
cf  such  as  are  beicitched,  or  floating  of  botlies  above  the  water,  or 
the  lii:e,  are  any  trial  of  a  witch."  Gaule,  in  his  Select  Cases  of 
Conscience  touching  Witches  and  "Witchcraft,  also  (p.  75)  men- 
tions "  some  marks  or  tokens  of  t.yall  altogether  unwarrantable, 
as  proceeding  from  ignorance,  humor,  superstition.  Such  are 
— 1.  The  old  paganish  sign,  the  witch's  long  ryes.  2.  The  tra- 
dition of  the  witches  not  weeping.  3.  The  witches  making  ill- 
favored  faces  and  mumbling.  d.  To  burn  the  thing  bewitched. 
<S:c.  (I  am  loth  to  speak  out,  lest  I  might  teach  these  in  reproving 
them.)  5.  The  burning  of  the  thatch  of  the  witch's  house,  ^:.c. 
6.  The  heating  of  the  horseshoe,  <tc.  7.  The  scalding  wat?r,  (L'C- 
8  The  sticking  of  knives  acrosse,  <!cc.    9.  The  putting  of  such 


S3 


SOnCERY  AND  mTCIICIlAFT. 


and  sucli  things  tinder  the  threshold,  nnd  in  the  bed-straw,  && 
10.  The  sieve  and  the  shears,  &c.  11.  The  casting  the  witch 
into  the  water  with  thumbs  and  toes  tied  across,  &c.  12.  The 
tying  of  knots,  &c. ' 

In  A  Pleasant  Grove  of  New  Fancies,  by  H.  B.,  8vo.  Loud. 
1657,  p.  76,  we  have 

".4  charm  io  bring  in  ihe  witch. 
To  house  the  hag  you  luust  do  this. 
Commix  with  meal  a  little  ***** 
Of  him  bewitch'd  ;  then  forthwith  makt 
A  little  wafer,  or  a  cake  ; 
And  this  rarely  bak'd  will  bring 
The  old  hag  in  :  no  surer  thing." 

It  occurs  also  among  the  following  experimental  rules  whereby 
to  afflict  witches,  causing  the  evil  to  return  back  upon  them, 
given  by  Blay grave  in  his  Astrological  Practice  of  Physic,  1G89: 
"  1.  One  way  is  by  watching  the  suspected  party  when  they  go 
into  their  house  ;  and  then  presently  to  take  some  of  her  thatch 
from  over  tho  door,  or  a  tile,  if  the  house  be  tyled  :  if  it  bo 
thatch,  you  must  wet  and  sprinkle  it  over  with  the  x^atient's  water, 
and  likewise  with  white  salt ;  then  let  it  burn  cr  smoke  through  a 
trivet  or  tho  framo  of  a  skillet ;  you  must  bury  the  ashes  that 
way  which  the  susi^ected  witch  liveth.  'Tis  best  done  either  at 
the  change,  full,  or  quarters  of  the  moon  ;  or  otherwise,  when 
the  witch's  bigniUcator  is  in  square  or  opposition  to  the  moon. 
But  if  the  witch's  house  be  tiled,  then  take  a  tile  from  over  the 
door,  heat  him  red  hot,  put  salt  into  the  patient's  water,  and 
dash  it  upon  the  red-hot  tile,  until  it  be  consumed,  and  let  it 
smoak  through  a  trivet  or  frame  of  a  skillet  as  aforesaid.  2. 
Another  way  is  to  get  two  new  horseshoes,  heat  one  of  them  red 
hot  and  quench  him  in  the  patient's  urine  ;  then  immediately 
nail  him  on  the  inside  of  the  threshold  of  the  door  with  three 
nails,  the  heel  being  upv.-ards;  then,  having  the  patients  urino,  set 
it  over  the  fire,  and  set  a  trivet  over  it  ;  put  into  it  three  horse- 
nails  and  a  little  white  salt.  Then  heat  the  other  horseshoe  red 
hot,  and  quench  hioi  several  times  in  the  urine,  and  so  let  it 
boil  and  waste  until  all  bo  consumed  :  do  this  three  times,  and 
Ut  it  ba  near  the  change,  fall,  or  quarters  of  th«  moon  ;  or  lot 


soRcrr.T  ASD  wrrcncnAFT. 


23 


the  moon  be  in  square  or  opposition  unto  the  witch's  significzv- 
tor.  3.  Another  way  is  to  stop  the  urine  of  the  r>atient  close  up 
in  a  bottle,  and  put  iuto  it  three  nails,  pine,  or  needles,  with  a 
iittle  white  salt,  keeping' the  urine  always  warm.  If  you  let  it 
remain  long  in  the  bottle,  it  will  endanger  the  witch's  life  ;  for 
I  have  found  by  experience  that  they  will  be  grievously  tor- 
mented, making  their  water  with  great  difficulty,  if  any  at  all, 
and  the  moor  if  the  moon  be  in  Scorpio,  in  square  or  opposition 
to  his  significator,  when  its  done.  4.  Another  way  is  either  at 
the  new,  full,  or  quarters  of  the  moon,  but  more  especially  when 
the  moon  is  in  square  or  opposition  to  the  planet  which  doth 
personate  the  witch,  to  let  the  patient  blood,  and  while  the 
blood  is  warm  put  a  little  white  salt  into  it,  then  let  it  burn  and 
smoak  through  a  trivet.  I  conceive  this  way  doth  more  afflict 
the  witch  than  any  of  the  other  three  before  mentioned."  He 
adds,  that  sometimes  the  witches  will  rather  endure  the  misery 
of  the  above  torments  than  appear,  "  by  reason  country  people 
ofttimes  will  fall  upon  them,  and  scratch  and  abuse  them 
shrewdly" 

I  fmd  the  following  in  Articles  to  be  enquired  of  within  the 
Archdeaconry  of  Yorke,  by  the  Church  Wardens  and  sworno 
Men,  A.  D.  1G3— (any year  till  1610),  4to.  Lond.  6.  I  :  "Whether 
there  bo  any  man  or  woman  in  your  parish  that  useth  icitchcrafl, 
sorcery,  charms,  or  xinlawfxd  prayer,  or  invocations  in  Latine  or  Eng- 
lish, or  otherwise,  upon  any  christian  body  or  beast,  or  any  that 
resorteth  to  the  same  for  counsell  or  helpo?" 

Some  persons  were  supposed  by  the  popular  belief  to  have 
the  faculty  of  distinguishing  witches.  These  were  called  witch- 
finders. 

The  old,  the  ignorant,  and  the  indigent  (says  Granger),  such 
as  could  neither  plead  their  own  cause  nor  hire  an  advocate, 
were  the  miserable  victims  of  this  wretch's  credulitj',  spleen, 
and  avarice.  He  pretended  to  be  a  great  critic  in  special  marks, 
which  were  only  moles,  scorbutic  spots,  or  warts,  which  fre- 
quently grow  large  and  pendulous  in  old  age,  but  wero  absurd- 
ly supposed  to  be  teats  to  suckle  imps.  His  ultimata  method 
of  proof  was  by  tying  together  the  thumbs  and  toes  of  the  sua- 


24 


SORCEnTAXD  WITCIICnAFT. 


pectecl  person,  about  wliQse  waist  was  fastened  a  cord,  tlie  enda 
of  -wliicU  were  held  on  tlio  banks  of  a  river,  by  two  men,  in 
wlioso  power  it  was  to  strain  or  slacken  it. 

Tlie  experiment  of  swiminirg  was  aMengtli  tried  upon  Hop- 
kins himself,  in  his  own  way,  and  he  was,  upon  the  event,  con- 
demned, and,  as  it  seems,  executed,  as  a  wizard.  Hopkins  had 
hanged,  in  one  year,  no  less  than  sixty  reputed  witches  in  his 
own  county  of  Essex. 

In  Gardiner's  England's  Grievance  in  Relation  to  tho  Coal 
Trade,  p.  107,  we  have  an  account  that,  in  1C40  and  1050,  tho 
magistrates  of  Newcastle-upon-Tyne,  sent  into  Scotland  to  agreo 
with  a  Scotchman,  who  pretended  knowledge  to  £nd  out  witches 
by  pricking  them  with  pins.  They  agreed  to  give  him  twenty 
shillings  a-pisce  for  all  he  could  condemn,  and  bear  his  travel- 
ing expen  -os.  On  Lis  arrival  the  bellman  was  sent  through 
the  town  to  :nvite  .all  persons  that  would  bring  in  an}'  complaint 
against  any  vroman  for  a  M  itch,  that  she  might  be  sent  for  and 
tried  by  tho  persons  appointed.  Thirty  women  wei'c,  on  this, 
brought  into  the  town-hall  and  stripped,  and  then  openly  had 
pin?  thrust  into  their  bodies,  about  twenty-seven  of  whom  ho 
found  guilty.  His  modn  was,  in  the  sight  cf  all  the  people,  to 
lay  the  body  of  the  per  on  suspected  naked  to  tho  waist,  and 
then  he  r.;n  a  i  in  into  her  thigh,  and  then  suddenly  let  her 
coats  fall,  demanding  whether  she  had  nothing  cf  Lis  in  her 
body  bat  did  not  bleed  :  the  woman,  through  fright  and  shame, 
being  auiazad,  replied  little  ;  then  he  put  his  hand  up  her  coats 
and  pulled  out  the  pin,  settling  her  aside  as  a  guilty  person  and 
a  child  of  the  devil.  By  this  sort  of  evidence,  one  wizard  and 
fourteen  witches  wero  tried  and  convicted  at  the  assizes,  and 
afterwards  executed.  Their  names  are  recorded  in  tho  parish 
register  of  St.  Andrew's.  See  Brand's  history  of  Newcastle-up- 
on-Tyne. 

Nash,  in  his  History  of  Worcestershire,  iL  38,  tells  us  that, 
"  14th  May,  1G60,  four  persons  accused  of  witchcraft  were 
brought  from  Kidderminster  to  Worcester  Gaol,  one  "Widow 
Ilobinson,  and  her  two  daughters,  and  a  man.  The  eldest 
daughter  was  accused  of  saving  that,  if  they  had  not  been 


SOnCEUY  AXD  WlTCnCEAFT. 


25 


taken,  (lie  l;ing  bIiouIJ.  never  have  come  'to  England  ;  and, 
tliongli  he  now  doth  come,  yet  he  shall  not  live  long,  hwi  shall 
die  as  ill  a  death  as  they  ;  and  that  they  Avould  have  made  corn 
like  pepper.  Many  great  charges  against  them,  and  little 
proved,  they  were  put  to  the  ducking  in  the  river  :  they  would 
not  sink,  but  swam  aloft.  The  man  had  live  teats,  the  woman 
three,  and  the  eldest  daughter  one.  "When  they  went  to  search 
the  women  none  wore  visible  ;  one  advised  to  lay  them  on  their 
backs  and  keep  open  their  mouths,  and  then  they  would  ap- 
pear ;  and  so  they  presently  appeared  in  sight. 

It  appears  from  a  Eehition  printed  by  Matthews,  in  Long 
Acre,  London,  that,  in  the  year  171G,  Mrs.  Hicks,  and  her 
daughter,  aged  nine  years,  were  hanged  in  Huntingdon  for 
witchcraft,  for  selling  their  souls  to  the  devil,  tormenting  and 
destroying  their  neighbors,  by  making  them  vomit  pins,  raising 
a  storui,  so  that  a  ship  was  almost  lost,  by  pulling  off  her  stock- 
ings, and  making  a  lather  of  soap. 

By  the  severe  laws  once  in  force  against  witches,  to  the  dis- 
grace of  humanity,  great  numbers  of  innocent  persons,  dis- 
tressed with  poverty  and  age,  were  brought  to  violent  and 
untimely  ends.  By  the  33  Henry  VIIL  c.  viii.  the  law  adjudged 
all  Yv'itchcraft  and  Sorcery  to  be  felony  without  benefit  of 
clergj'.  By  statue  1  Jac.  L  c.  xii.  it  was  (>rdered  that  all  persons 
invoking  any  evil  spirit,  or  consulting,  covenanting  with,  enter- 
taining, employing,  feeding,  or  rewarding  any  evil  spirit ;  or 
taking  up  dead  bodies  from  their  graves  to  be  used  in  any 
witchcraft,  sorcery,  charm,  or  enchantment,  or  killing  or  other- 
wise hurling  any  person  by  such  infernal  arts,  should  be  gniHy 
of  felony  without  benefit  of  clerg}',  and  sulTer  death.  And  if 
any  person  should  attempt  by  sorcery  to  discover  hidden  treas- 
ure, or  to  restore  stolen  goods,  or  to  provoke  unlawful  love,  or 
to  hurt  any  man  or  beast,  though  the  same  were  not  affected,  ho 
or  she  should  suffer  imprisonment  and  pillory  for  the  first 
offence,  and  death  for  the  second. 

On  March  11,  1G13,  Margaret  and  Philip  Flower,  daughters  of 
Joane  Flower,  were  executed  at  Lincoln  for  the  supposed  crimo 
of  bewitching  Henry  Lord  Kosse,  eldest  son  of  Francis  Manners, 


SORCERY  A^B  WITCHORAFT. 


Earl  of  Kutland,  and  causing  his  death  ;  also,  for  most  barbar- 
ously torturing  by  a  strange  sickness  Francis,  second  son  of  the 
said  Earl,  and  Lady  Katherine,  Lis  daughter  ;  and  also,  for 
preventing  by  their  diabolical  arts,  the  said  earl  and  his  countess 
from  having  any  more  children.  They  were  tried  at  the  Lent  As- 
sizes before  Sir  Henry  Hobart,  Lord  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common 
Pleas,  and  Sir  Edward  Bromley,  one  of  the  Barons  of  the 
Exchequer,  and  cast  by  the  evidence  of  their  own  confessions. 
To  effect  the  death  of  Lord  Henry  "there  was  a  glove  of  the 
said  Lord  Henry  buried  in  the  ground,  and  as  that  glove  did 
rot  and  waste,  so  did  the  liver  of  the  said  lord  rot  and  waste." 
The  spirit  employed  on  the  occasion,  called  Butterkin,  appears 
not  to  have  had  the  same  power  over  the  lives  of  Lord  Francis  and 
Lady  Katherine.  Margaret  Flower  confessed  that  she  had 
•*  two  familiar  spirit.s  sucking  on  her,  the  one  white,  the  other 
black-spotted.  The  white  sucked  under  her  left  breast,  the 
black-spotted,"  &c.  "When  she  first  entertained  them,  she 
promised  them  her  soul,  and  they  covenanted  to  do  all  things 
■which  she  commanded  them. 

In  the  Diary  of  Bobert  Birrell,  preserved  in  Fragments  of 
Scottish  History,  4to.  Edinb.,  1708,  are  inserted  some  curious 
memorials  of  persons  suffering  death  for  witchcraft  in  S'jotland. 
"  1591,  25  of  Junii,  Enphane  M'Kalzen  ves  brunt  for  vitchcrafte. 
1529.  The  last  of  Februarii,  Bichard  Grahamo  wes  brunt  at  ye 
Crosse  of  Edinburghe,  tor  vitchcrafte  and  sorcery.  1593.  The 
19  of  May,  Katherine  Muirhead  brunt  for  vitchcrafte,  quha  con- 
fest  Bundrie  poynts  therof.  1G03.  The  21  of  Julii,  James  Beid 
brunt  for  consulting  and  useing  with  Sathan  and  witches,  and 
quha  wes  notably  knawin  to  be  ane  counsellor  with  witches. 
1605.  July  24th  day,  Henrie  Lowrie  brunt  on  the  Castel  Hill, 
for  witchcrafte  done  and  committed  be  him  in  Kyle,  in  the  par- 
ochin."  The  following  is  from  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  1775,  xlv. 
601  :  "Nov.  15.  Nine  old  women  were  burnt  at  Kalisk,  in 
Poland,  charged  with  having  bewitched  and  rendered  unfruitful 
the  lands  belonging  to  a  gentleman  in  that  palatinate." 

By  statute  9  Geo.  H.  c.  v.  it  was  enacted  that  no  prosecution 
ghould  in  future  be  carried  on  against  any  person  lor  con  jura- 


soncERT  AID  wrrcncRA^T. 


27 


tion,  witchcraft,  sorcery,  or  enchantment.  However,  the  mis- 
demeanor of  persons  pretending  to  use  witchcraft,  tell  fortunes, 
or  discover  stolen  goods  by  skill  in  the  occult  sciences,  is  still 
deservedly  punished  with  a  year'  s  imprisonment,  and  till 
recently  by  standing  four  times  in  the  pillory.  Thus  the  Witch 
Act,  a  disgrace  to  the  code  of  English  laws,  was  not  repealed 
till  173t!. 

In  the  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,  v.  240,  parish  of  Old 
Kilpatrick,  co.  Dumbarton,  we  read  :  '*  The  history  of  the  Bar- 
garran  witches,  in  the  neighboring  parish  of  Erskine,  is  well 
known  to  the  curioup.  That  this  parish  in  the  dark  ages  par- 
took of  the  same  frenzy,  and  that  innocent  persons  were  sacri- 
ficed at  the  shrino  of  cruelty,  bigotry,  and  suj^erstition,  cannot 
be  concealed.  As  late  as  the  end  of  tha  last  century  a  woman  was 
burnt  for  witchcraft  at  Sandyfonl,  near  the  village,  and  the 
bones  of  the  unfortanato  victim  were  lately  found  at  the  place. 
Ibid.  p.  454,  parish  of  Spott,  co.  East  Lothian,  Parochial 
Hecords.  "  1698  :  The  Session,  after  a  long  examination  of  wit- 
nesses, refer  the  case  of  Marion  Lillie,  for  imprecations  and 
supposed  witchcraft,  to  the  Presbyter}',  who  refer  her  for  trial  to 
the  ci\  il  magistr.ito.  Said  Mariou  generally  called  the  Eigwoody 
"NVitch.  Oct.  1703  :  Many  witches  burnt  on  the  top  of  Spott 
loan."   Ibid.  vii.  280,  parish  of  East  Monklaml,  co.  Lanark: 

Upon  a  rising  ground  there  is  still  to  be  seen  an  upright  gran- 
ite stone,  where,  it  is  said,  in  former  times  they  burnt  those 
imaginary  criminals  called  witches."  Ibid.  viii.  177,  parish  of 
Newburgh,  co.  Fife:  "Tradition  continues  to  preserve  the 
memory  of  the  spot  in  the  lands  belonging  to  the  town  of  New. 
burgh,  on  wliich  more  than  one  unfortunate  victim  fell  a  sacri- 
fice to  the  superstition  of  former  times,  intent  on  i  uaishing  the 
crime  of  witchcraft.  The  humane  provisions  of  the  legislature, 
*oined  to  the  superior  knowledge  which  has,  of  late  years,  per- 
vaded all  ranks  of  men  in  societj',  bid  tair  to  prevent  the  return 
of  a  frenzy  which  actuated  our  forefathers  universall}',  and 
with  fatal  violence."  The  following  is  extracted  from  the 
Parish  Eecords  :  "Newburgh,  Sept.  18,  1653.  The  minister 
gave  in  against  Eath'rine  Key  severall  poynts  that  had  come  tQ 


28 


SOECEnr  AXD  WITCnCBAFT 


Lis  hearing,  uLicL  ho  desyred  might  be  pnt  to  tryelh  1.  That, 
"being  refused  miih,  the  how  gave  nothing  hut  red  blood  ;  and 
being  sent  for  to  sie  the  how,  she  chipped  (stroked)  the  kow, 
and  said  the  kow  will  be  weill,  and  thereafter  the  kow  becam 
weilh  2.  (-V  similar  charge.)  3.  That  the  minister  and  his  wife, 
having  ane  purpose  to  take  ane  child  of  theirs  from  the  said 
Kathrine,  which  she  had  in  nursing,  the  child  would  suck  none 
woman's  breast  being  only  one  quarter  old  ;  but,  being  brought 
again  to  the  said  K;ithrino,  presently  sucked  her  breast.  4.  That, 
thereafter  the  chyld  was  spayned  (weaned),  she  came  to  sie 
the  chi.d  and  wold  have  the  bairne  (child)  in  her  arms,  and 
thereafter  the  bairne  murned  and  gratt  (vs-eeped  sore)  in  the 
night,  and  almost  the  day  tyme  ;  also,  that  nothing  could  stay 
her  until  she  died.  Nevertheless,  before  her  coming  to  see  her 
and  her  embracing  of  her,  took  as  weill  with  the  spaining  and 
rested  as  weill  as  any  bairne  could  doe.  5.  That  she  is  of  ane 
evill  bruttc  and  fame,  and  so  was  her  mother  before  her."  The 
event  is  not  recorded.  Ibid.  ix.  74,  parish  of  Erskine,  is  a  re- 
ference to  Arnot's  Collection  (  f  Criminrd  Trials  for  an  account 
of  tlie  Eargarran  AYitches.  ILid.  xii..l97,  parish  of  Kirriemuir, 
CO.  Forfar  :  "A  circular  pond,  commonly  called  the  WUch-pool, 
was  lately  converted  into  a  reservoir  for  the  mills  on  the  Gairie  ; 
a  much  better  use  than,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  name,  the 
superstition  of  our  ancestors  led  them  to  apply  it," 

IbiJ.  xiv,  372,  parish  of  Mid  Calder,  county  of  Edinburgh  : 
Witches  formerly  burnt  there.  The  method  taken  by  persons 
employed  to  keep  those  who  were  suspected  of  witchcraft 
awake,  when  guarded,  was,  "to  pierce  their  flesh  with  pins, 
needles,  awls,  or  other  sharp-pointed  instruments.  To  rescue 
them  from  that  opression  which  sleep  imposed  on  their  almost 
exhausted  nature,  they  sometimes  used  irons  heated  to  a  state 
of  redness."  The  reference  for  this  is  also  to  Arnot's  Trials. 
Ibid,  xviii.  C7,  parish  of  Kirkaldy,  county  of  Fife,  it  is  said: 
"  A  man  and  his  wife  was  burnt  here  in  1G30,  for  the  supposed 
crime  of  witchcraft.  At  that  time  the  belief  (  f  witchcraft  pre- 
vailed, and  trials  and  executions  on  account  of  it  were  frequent, 
in  all  the  kingdoms  of  Europe.  It  was  in  1G34  that  the  famous 
Urban  Grandier  was,  at  the  instigation  of  Cardinal  Eichelieu, 


SOllCZnr  AKD  witciicbajbt. 


20 


whom  he  ha'l  satirized,  tried,  and  condemned  to  the  stake,  for 
exercising  Ibo  black  art  on  some  nuns  of  Loudun,  ^vho  were 
supposed  to  bo  possessed.  And  it  was  much  about  the  samo 
time  that  the  wifo  of  the  Mureclial  d'Ancre  (see  p.  9)  was  burnt 
for  a  witch,  at  the  Place  de  Greve,  at  Paris." 

Dr.  Zoucli,  in  a  note  of  his  edition  to  "Walton's  Lives,  179G, 
p.  482,  says:  "The  opinion  concerning  tbe  reality  of  witch- 
craft was  not  exploded  even  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  The  prejudices  of  popular  credulity  are  not  easily 
effaced.  Men  of  learning,  either  from  conviction  or  some 
other  equally  powerful  motive,  adopted  the  system  of  Dsemon- 
ology  advanced  b}'  James  I. ;  and  it  was  only  at  a  recent  period 
that  the  legislature  repealed  the  Act  made  in  the  first  year  of 
the  reign  of  that  monarch,  entitled  an  Act  against  Conjuration, 
Witchcraft,  and  dealing  with  Evil  and  Wicked  Spirits." 

Lord  Verulam's  reliections  on  witches,  in  the  tenth  century 
of  his  Natural  History,  form  a  fine  contrast  to  the  narrow 
and  bigoted  ideas  of  the  royal  author  of  the  Daemonology. 
"Men  may  not  too  rashly  believe  the  confession  of  witches, 
nor  yet  the  evidence  against  them  ;  for  the  witches  themselves 
are  imaginative,  and  believe  oftentimes  they  do  that  in  which 
they  do  not  ;  and  people  are  credulous  in  that  point,  and 
ready  to  impute  accidents  and  natural  operations  to  witch- 
craft. It  is  worthy  the  observing  that,  both  in  ancient  and 
late  times  (as  in  the  Thessalian  witches,  and  the  meetings  of 
witches  that  have  been  recorded  by  so  many  late  confessions), 
the  great  wonders  which  they  tell,  of  carrying  in  the  air, 
transforming  themselves  into  other  bodies,  &c.  are  still  reported 
to  bo  wrought,  not  by  incantations  or  ceremonies,  but  by 
ointments  and  anointing  themselves  all  over.  This  may  justly 
move  a  va?.n  to  think  that  these  fables  are  the  effects  of  imr.g- 
inatiou  ;  for  it  is  certain  that  ointments  do  all  (if  they  be  laid 
on  anything  thick),  by  stopping  of  the  pores,  shut  in  the 
vapors,  and  send  them  to  the  head  extremely.  And  for  the 
particular  ingredients  of  those  magical  ointments,  it  is  like 
they  are  opiate  and  soporiferous:  for  anointing  of  the  forehead, 
neck,  feet,  backbone,  we  know  is  ised  lor  procuring  deaa 


to 


SOftCERY  AKD  WIlCnCRAFT. 


sleepi.  And  if  nny  man  say  that  this  effect  wonld  be  better 
done  by  inward  i)otions,  answer  may  be  made  that  the  medi- 
cines which  go  to  the  ointments  are  so  strong,  that  if  they  were 
used  inwards  they  would  kill  those  that  use  them,  and  there- 
fore they  work  potently  though  outwards." 

Mr.  "Warner  in  his  Topographical  Pwemarks  relating  to  the 
South-western  parts  of  Hampshire  already  quoted,  says:  "It 
would  be  a  curious  speculation  to  trace  the  origin  and  progress 
of  that  mode  of  thinking  among  the  northern  nations  which 
gave  the  faculty  of  divination  to  females  in  ancient  ages,  and 
the  gift  of  witchcraft  to  them  in  more  modern  times.  The 
learned  reader  will  receive  great  satisfaction  in  the  i^erusal  of 
a  dissertation  of  Kcysler,  entitled  De  Mulieribus  fatidicis,  ad 
calc.  Antiq.  Select.  Septen.  p.  371.  Much  information  on 
the  same  subject  is  also  to  be  had  in  M.  Mallet's  Northern 
Antiquities,  vol.  i. ;  and  in  the  Notes  of  the  Edda,  vol.  ii." 

In  an  account  of  witchcraft,  the  cat,  who  is  the  sine  qua. 
non  a  witch,  deserves  particular  consideration.  If  I  mis. 
take  not,  this  is  a  connexion  which  has  cost  our  domestic 
animal  all  that  persecution  with  which  it  is,  by  idle  boyc  at  least, 
'sncessantly  pursued.  In  ancient  times  the  case  was  very 
different.  These  animals  were  anciently  revered  as  emblems  of 
the  moon,  and  among  the  Egyptians  were  on  that  account  so 
highly  honored  to  receive  sacrifices  and  devotions,  and  had 
stately  temples  erected  to  their  honor.  It  is  said  that  in  what- 
ever house  a  cat  died,  all  the  family  shaved  their  eyebrows.  No 
favorite  lap-dog  among  the  moderns  had  received  such  posthu- 
mous honors.  Diodorus  Siculus  relates  that  a  Eoman  happen- 
ing accidentally  to  kill  a  cat,  the  mob  immediately  gathered 
about  the  house  where  he  was,  and  neither  the  entreaties  of 
some  principle  men  sent  by  the  king,  not  the  fear  of  the 
Romans,  with  whom  the  Egyptians  were  then  negotiating  • 
peace,  could  save  the  man's  life. 

In  the  remarkable  account  of  witches  in  Scotland  (before 
James  the  First's  coming  to  the  crown  of  England),  abo'.it 
15S1,  entitled  news  from  Scotland  :  the  damnable  Life  and 


SOBCEnr  A2\D  WlTCMBAlfT. 


31 


Death  of  Dr.  Fian  *  (printed  from  the  old  copy  in  th« 
Gent.  Mag.  for  1779,  xlis.  440),  is  the  following:  "Agni« 
ThompFcn  confessed  that,  at  the  time  whtn  his  Majesty  was 
in  Denmark,  she  Leing  accompanied  with  the  parties  beforo 
specialy  named,  look  a  cat  and  christened  H,  and  afterwards 
hound  to  each  part  of  the  cat  the  chiefest  parts  of  a  dead 
man,  rnd  several  joints  cf  his  hody  ;  and  that  in  the  night 
following  the  said  cat  was  conveyed  into  the  midst  of  the  sea 
by  all  these  witches  sailing  iu  their  riddles  or  cieves,  as  is 
aforesaid,  and  £o  left  the  said  cat  hcforo  the  town  of  Leith, 
in  Scotland  ;  tLis  done,  their  did  arise  cuch  a  tempest  in  the 
sea  as  a  greater  Lath  not  been  seen  ;  which  tempest  was  the 
conso  cf  the  perishing  of  a  boat  or  vessel  coming  over  trom 
the  town  of  Eriiiit  Island  to  the  town  of  Leith,  wherein  wero 
sundry  jewels  and  rich  gifts,  which  should  have  been  pre- 
sented to  tho  now  Queen  cf  Scotland,  at  her  Mr.jestys  coming 
to  Leilh.  Again  it  is  confessed  that  the  raid  christened  cat 
was  the  cause  that  the  Iling's  IM:  jcsty's  ship,  at  Lis  coming 
forth  of  Denmr.rh,  had  a  contrary  v,  :nd  to  tho  rest  of  his  ships 
then  being  in  Lis  comprny  ;  v.  hich  thing  was  most  etrango 
and  true,  as  tho  Hing's  llr.jesty  acknowledgeth." 

One  plainl}"  sees  in  this  publication  tho  foundation-stones 
of  the  royal  treatise  on  Dromonology;  and  it  is  said  •'these  con- 
fessions made  tho  Ling  in  a  wonderful  admiration,"  and  ho 
sent  for  one  GeiKis  Duncane,  who  played  a  reel  or  dance  beforo 
tho  witches,  "who  upon  a  ^niall  trump,  called  a  Jew's  trump, 
did  play  tho  same  dance  before  tho  King's  Majesty,  who,  in, 
respect  cf  the  strangeness  of  these  matters,  took  great  delight 
to  bo  present  at  all  their  examinations."  V.'ho  is  there  so 
incurious  that  would  not  wish  to  Lavo  seen  tho  monarch  cf 
Great  Britain  entertaining  himself  with  a  supposed  witch's 
performance  on  the  Jew's-harp  ? 

*  This  Docter  Fian  was  register  of  the  devil,  and  sundry  times 
preached  at  North  Baricke  Kirke  lo  a  number  of  notorious 
witches  ;  the  very  persons  who  in  this  work  are  said  to  have  pro»- 
tended  to  bewitch  and  drown  his  Mcjesty  in  tho  sea  commg 
from  Denmark. 


S0BCER7  AMD  mJCHItAFT. 


We  re -produce  .1  few  wonders  borrowed  from  a  celebrated 
collection  Laving  for  its  title  ;  "The  admirable  secrets  of  Al- 
EEKTrs  ilAGKCs,"  that  is  of  Albert  the  Great. 

This  illustrioiis  scholar,  one  of  the  most  remarkable  men  of 
the  ^liddle  Ages,  was  born  in  1193,  at  Savignen,  a  town  in 
Swabia,  on  the  banks  of  the  Danube. 

"Wiiliam  of  Holland,  who  had  been  crowned  King  of  tho 
r.omr.ns.  that  is  to  sny,  deputy  to  the  Emperor  of  Germany, 
made  a  visit  to  the  celebrated  professor. 

Albertus  himself  received  him  with  extraordinary  magnifi- 
cence. 

It  was  at  the  time  in  the  depth  of  winter.  Albertus  gave  his 
reception  in  a  garden,  blooming  with  the  flowers  of  sj^ring,  in 
which  tho  t:mper.atare  was  as  mild  as  that  of  the  month  of  May, 
a  thing  which  would  appear  very  extraordinary,  even,  for  our 
own  times  and  which  must  have  appeared  surprisingly  marvel- 
lous in  a  most  unenlightened  age. 

Many  r.nalogous  facis  contributed  no  little  in  spreading 
broad,  r.mong  tho  ignorant  classes,  rumors  as  to  the  magical 
powers  of  the  professor. 

lie  was  without  contradiction  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
men  of  his  century  and  even  one  of  the  genuises  of  past  ages. 
Hence  he  was  regarded  for  a  long  lime  as  a  sorcerer. 

In  consequence  of  this  popi;lar  error,  a  great  many  books 
have  been  piiblished  over  his  name,  of  \\hich  that  most  diffused 
is  the    The  Admirable  Secrets  (  f  Albertus  Magnus." 

TLis  work,  composed  mainly  of  natural  magic,  embraces  a 
•'Troalise  on  the  Generation  of  Man,"  £lled  with  errors,  with 
which  we  have  no  business,  an  "Dssny  upon  Physiognomy,*' 
and  a  "Collection  of  Secrets"  upon  the  virtues  of  herbs,  stones 
and  animals. 

In  it  we  read  revelations  such  as  the  following  : 

To  render  one's  self  invisible  it  is  only  necessary  to 
possess  the  stone  called  ophilialme.  Ccnstantine  held  one  in  Lis 
hand  and  in  this  wise  became  invisible. 

To  cure  the  phthisis  you  must  hang  around  tho  nedc  of 
a  sick  person  the  stone  called  lerlfeiidanus. 


SOttCEET  AyD  WITCHCRAFT. 


83 


To  avoid  nil  dangers,  it  is  necessary  to  wear  upon  your 
person  a  black  agate  with  wbite  veins. 

A  dress,  rubbed  with  Ilhmas,  will  never  burn. 
.■^**  To  drive  away  moles  from  a  locality,  it  is  necessary  to 
catch  one  and  put  it  in  the  place  with  native  sulphur  and  there 
bum  it. 

A  dog  who  has  swallowed  the  heart  of  a  weazel  will 
never  afterwards  bark. 

To  make  a  person  talk  a  good  deal,  give  him  the  tongu« 
and  heart  of  a  magpie. 

j^l*  The  head  of  a  goat,  suspended  to  the  neck  of  a  person, 
afflicted  with  leprosy  will  cure  him  perfectly. 

The  right  foot  of  a  tortoise,  made  fast  to  the  right  foot  of 
a  gouty  man  will  give  him  ease. 

Everything,  however,  is  not  of  this  same  stamp  throughout 
the  marvellous  secrets  of  Albertus  Magnus.  In  the  midst  of 
absurdities,  invented  at  will,  there  are  soma  useful  receipts.  As  : 

*  *  *  *  *  0 

To  CLEAN  lEON  AEMOR  AND  WHATEVER  TOU  WILK — Take  lead, 

pulverized  very  fine,  place  it  in  a  pot,  well  covered,  with  olive 

oil  ;  leave  it  thus  for  nine  days  ;  then  rub  the  iron,  steel,  &c., 

with  this  oil  and  rust  will  never  attack  it. 

******* 

To  SOFTEN  Glass. — Take  equal  parts  of  burned  lead  and 
crystal,  break  them  upon  a  stone,  put  them  in  a  crucible  and 
melt  them  together  ;  you  can  do  whatever  you  like  by  this 
means. 

******** 

To  SOLDER  ALL  THINGS,  EVEN  COLD  IRON. — Take  an  ounco^  of 
sal  ammoniac,  an  ounce  of  common  salt,  as  much  calcined  tar- 
tar and  three  ounces  of  antimonj'.  After  having  pulvarized  the 
whole  together,  pass  through  a  sieve.:  put  it  into  a  linen,  cov- 
ered all  over  the  outside  with  well  prepared  potter's  clay  to  the 
thickness  of  a  finger  ;  let  it  become  dry  ;  after  that  place  it  upon 
test  pots  over  a  slow  fire,  which  augments  until  the  whole 
becomes  of  a  red  heat  and  melts  together.  After  allowing  it  to 
get  cold  again,  reduce  it  to  powder  and,  when  anything  ia  to 


FASCINATION  OF  WITCHES. 


be  soldered,  join  the  two  pieces  as  closely  as  possible  upon'a 
piece  of  paper,  placed  upon  a  table  and  introduce  between  tne 
two  pieces  to  be  joined  the  aforesaid  powder.  Now  boil  borax 
in  wine  until  it  is  dissolved  and  rub  with  the  end  of  a  pen  the 
powder  with  this  liquid  and  the  powder  will  boil  likewise. 
When  it  has  ceased  to  boil  the  solidification  and  soldering  has 
been  accomplished, 


To  ENGEAVE  UPON  ALL  SORTS  OF  METALS. — Take  a  part  of 
billot  chaicoal,  two  parts  of  vitriol,  as  much  sal  ammoniac, 
steep  the  whole  in  vinegar  until  it  becomes  a  soft  paste,  and 
when  you  wish  to  engrave,  trace  the  design  upon  the  metal 
which  you  suffer  to  dry.  Then  you  place  over  it  the  above 
composition  as  warm  as  you  can  make  it  and,  when  all  becomes 
dry,  you  remove  it  and  wash  the  engraving  well  and  everything 
will  be  as  you  desire  it. 

Such  are  the  grand  secrets  of  Albertus  JIagnus, 


FASCINATION  OF  WITCHES. 

I  have  no  doiibt  but  that  this  expression  originated  in  the 
poi^ular  superstition  concerning  an  evil,  that  is  an  enchanting 
heiDitcldng  eye.  In  confirmation  of  this  I  must  cite  the  follow- 
ing passage  from  Scot's  Discovery,  p.  291  :  "  Many  writers 
agree  with  Yirgil  and  Theocritus  in  the  effect  of  bewitching 
eyes,  affirming  that  in  Scythia  there  are  women  called  Bithise, 
having  two  balls,  or  rather  hlacks,  in  the  apples  of  their  eyes. 
These  (forsooth)  with  their  angry  looks  do  bewitch  and  hurt, 
not  only  young  lambs,  but  young  children."  He  says,  p.  35  : 
"The  Irishmen  affirm  that  not  only  their  children,  but  their 
cattle,  are  (as  they  call  it)  eye-hiiien,  when  they  fall  suddenly 
sick." 

In  Vox  Dei,  or  the  great  Duty  of  Self-Eeflection  upon  a  Man's 
own  Wayes,  by  N.  Wanley,  M.  A.  and  minister  of  the  Gospel  at 
Beeby,  in  Leicestershire,  1G58,  p.  85,  the  author,  speaking  of 
St.  Paul's  having  said  that  he  was,  touching  the  righteousnesse 


FASCINATION  OF  WITCHES. 


35 


which  is  in  the  law,  blameless,  observes  upon  it,  "No  man 
could  say  (as  the  proverb  hath  it)  black  was  his  eye."  In 
Browne's  Map  of  the  Microcosme,  164*^,  we  read  :  "As  those 
eyes  are  accounted  bewitching,  que  geminam  habent  pupillam, 
sicut  Illyrici,  which  have  double-sighted  eyes  ;  so,"  &c. 

[The  following  very  curious  particulars  are  taken  from  a 
recent  number  of  the  Athenaeum  :  — Turrdngihe  Coal ;  a  Couni- 
ercharm  io  the  Evil  Eye.  It  is  necessary  that  persons  with  the 
power  of  an  evil  eye  go  through  certain  forms  before  they  can 
effect  their  object  ;  and  it  is  supposed  that  during  these  forms 
the  evil  they  wish  is  seen  by  them,  by  some  means,  before  it 
takes  efiect  upon  their  victim.  One  of  the  simplest  of  these 
forms  is  looking  steadfastly  in  the  fire,  so  that  a  person  seen 
sitting  musing  with  his  eyes  fixed  upon  the  fire  is  looked  upon 
with  great  suspicion.  But  if  he  smokes,  and  in  lighting  the 
pipe  puts  the  head  into  the  fire,  and  takes  a  draw  while  it  is 
there,  it  is  an  undeniable  sign  that  there  is  evil  brewing.  Now, 
if  any  pe;-son  observe  this,  and  it  being  a  common  custom  in 
the  country  to  have  a  large  piece  of  coal  on  the  fire,  the  tongs 
be  taken  privately,  and  this  coal  be  turned  right  over,  with  the 
exorcism  utterd,  either  privately  or  aloud,  "Lord  be  wi'  us,"  it 
throws  the  imagination  of  the  evil-disposed  person  into  con- 
fusion, dispels  the  vision,  and  thwarts  for  the  time  all  evil  inten- 
tions. Or  if  an  individual  who  is  suspected  of  having  wished 
evil,  or  cast  an  ''ill  e'e,"  upon  anything,  enter  the  house  upon 
which  the  evil  is,  and  the  coal  he  turned  upon  him,  as  it  is  termed, 
that  person  feels  as  if  the  coal  was  placed  upon  his  heart,  and 
has  often  been  seen  to  put  his  hand  to  his  breast,  exclaiming, 
"Oh  !"  Nay,  more  ;  he  is  unable  to  move  so  long  as  the  coal  is 
held  down  with  the  tongs,— and  has  no  more  power  over  that 
house. 

In  Heron's  Journey  through  Part  of  Scotland,  ii.  228,  we 
read  :  "Cattle  are  subject  to  be  injured  by  what  is  called  an 
evil  eye,  for  some  persons  are  supposed  to  have  naturally  a  blast- 
ing power  in  their  eyes,  with  which  they  injure  whatever  offends 
or  is  hopelessly  desired  by  them.  Witches  and  warlocks  are 
also  much  disposed  to  wreak  their  malignity  on  cattle." 
"Charms,"  the  writer  adds,  "  are  the  cheif  remedies  applied  for 


86 


FASCINATION  OF  WITCRES. 


their  diseases.  I  have  been,  mj-self,  acqiTainted  with  an  anti- 
bnrgher  clergyman  in  these  parts,  who  actually  procured  from 
A  person  who  pretended  skill  in  these  charms,  two  small  pieces 
of  wood,  curiously  wrought,  to  be  kept  in  his  lather's  cow- 
house, as  a  security  for  the  health  of  his  cows.  It  is  common 
to  bind  into  a  cow's  tail  a  small  piece  of  mountain-ash  wood, 
as  a  charm  against  witchcraft.  Few  old  women  are  now  suspect- 
ed of  witchcraft ;  but  many  tales  are  told  of  the  conventions  of 
witches  in  the  kirks  in  former  times. 

["Your  interesting  papers,"  says  a  correspondent  of  the 
Athenaeum,  "upon  'Folk  Lore,'  have  brought  to  my  recollec- 
tion a  number  of  practices  common  in  the  west  of  Scotland. 
The  lirst  is  a  test  for,  as  a  charm  to  prevent,  an  'ill  e'e.'  Any- 
individual  ailing  not  sufficiently  for  the  case  to  be  consideped 
serious,  but  lingering,  is  deemed  to  be  the  object  of  '  an  ill  e'o,' 
of  some  one  'that's  no  canny.'  The  follov\-ing  operation  is  (hen 
performed  ;— An  old  sixpence  is  borrowed  from  some  neighbor, 
without  telling  the  ol>ject  to  which  it  is  to  be  applied  ;  as 
much  salt  as  can  be  lifted  upon  the  sixpence  is  put  into  a  table- 
spoonful  of  water,  and  melted  ;  the  sixpence  is  then  put  into 
the  solution,  and  the  soles  of  the  feet  and  the  palms  of  the 
hands  of  the  patient  are  moistened  three  times  with  the  salt 
water  ;  it  is  then  tasted  three  times,  and  the  patient  afterwards 
'scored  aboon  the  breath,'  that  is,  by  the  operator  dipping  tho 
forefinger  into  the  salt  water,  and  drawing  it  along  the  brow. 
When  this  is  done  the  contents  of  the  spoon  are  thrown  behind, 
and  right  over  the  fire,  the  thrower  saying  at  the  same  time, 
*  Lord  preserve  us  frae  a'  scathe  ! '  If  recovery  follow  this,  thero 
is  no  doubt  of  the  individual  having  been  under  the  influence 
of  an  evil  eye."] 

Volney,  in  his  travels  in  Egypt  and  Syria,  i.  246,  says 
"The  ignorant  mothers  of  many  of  the  modern  Egyptians, 
whose  hollow  eyes,  pale  faces,  swollen  bellies,  and  meagre  ex- 
tremities make  them  seem  as  if  they  had  not  long  to  live,  be- 
lieve this  to  be  the  effect  of  the  evil  eye  of  some  envious  person, 
who  has  bewitched  them  ;  and  this  ancient  prejudice  is  still 
general  in  Turkey." 

"  Nothing,"  says  Mr.   Dallaway,  in  his  Account  of  Cojx- 


TOAD  STONE. 


S7 


stantinople,  1797,  p.  391,  "  can  exceed  the  superstition  of  the 
Turks  respecting  ike  evil  eye  of  an  enemy  or  infidel.  Passages  from 
the  Koran  are  painted  on  the  outside  of  the  houses,  globes  of 
glass  are  suspended  from  the  ceilings,  and  a  sort  of  the  super- 
fluous capariso'i  of  their  horses  is  designed  to  attract  attention 
and  divert  a  minister  influence."  ♦  That  this  superstition  was 
known  to  the  Eomans  we  have  the  authority  of  Virgil  ; — "  Nescio 
quis  tenoros  oculus  mihi  fascinat  agnos."    Eel.  iii. 

The  following  passage  from  one  of  Lord  Bacon's  works  is 
cited  in  Minor  Morals,  i.  24;  "It  seems  some  have  been  so 
curious  as  to  note  that  the  times  when  the  stroke  of  percussion 
of  an  envious  e^'^e  does  most  hurt  are  particularly  when  the 
party  envied  is  beheld  in  glory  and  triumph." 

Lupton,  in  his  fourth  Book  of  Notable  Things,  No.  81  (edit 
1660,  p.  103),  says  :  "The  eyes  be  not  only  instruments  of 
enchantment,  but  also  the  voyce  and  evil  tongues  of  certain 
persons  ;  for  their  are  found  in  Africk,  as  Gellius  saith,  fami  • 
lies  of  men,  that,  if  they  cliance  exceedingly  to  praise  fair  trees, 
pure  seeds,  goodly  children,  excellent  horses,  fair  and  well- 
liking  cattle,  soon  after  they  will  wither  and  pin©  away,  and  so 
dye ;  no  cause  or  hurt  known  of  their  withering  or  death. 
Thereuj^on  the  costume  came,  that  when  any  do  praise  anything, 
that  we  should  say,  God,  blesse  it  or  keep©  it.  Arist.  in  Prob. 
by  the  report  of  Mizaldus." 


TOAD  STONE. 

To  the  toad-stone  Shakespeare  alludes  in  the  following  b«an- 
tiful  similo  : 

"Sweet  are  the  uses  of  adversitj', 
Which  like  the  toad,  ugly  and  venomous, 
Wears  yet  a  precious  jewel  in  his  head." 

Stevens,  in  his  note  upon  this  passage,  says  that  Thomaii 
Lupton,  in  his  first  Book  of  Notable  Things,  bears  repeated 
testimony  to  the  virtues  of  the  toad-stone  called  crapaudiua. 
In  his  seventh  book  he  instructs  how  to  procure  it,  and  after- 
wards tell  us  .:  "You  shall  knowe  whether  the  toad-stone  bd 


88 


TOAD  STONR 


the  rj'ght  and  perfect  stone  or  not.  Holde  the  stone  before  a 
tode,  so  that  he  may  see  it ;  and,  if  it  be  a  right  and  true 
stone,  the  tode  will  leap  towarde  it,  and  make  as  though  he 
would  snatch  it.  He  envieth  so  much  that  man  should  have 
that  stone. " 

From  a  physical  manuscript  in  quarto,  of  the  date  of  1475, 
formely  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  Herbert,  of  Cheshunt,  now  in 
my  library,  I  transcribe  the  following  charm  against  witch- 
craft : — "Here  ys  acharme  for  wyked  Wych.  In  nomine  Patris, 
et  Filii,  et  Spiritus  Sancti,  Amen.  Per  Yirtutem  Domini  sint 
medicina  mei  pia  Cruxijiet  passio  Christi^.  Vulnera  quinque 
Domini  sint  medicina  meit^.  Virgo  Maria  mihi  succurre,  et 
defende  ab  omni  maligno  demonio,  et  ab  omni  maligno  spiritu  : 
Amen,  iftaifig^lt^a^  Tetragrammaton.  Alpha.  i{i 
oo.  i{i  primogenitus,  iji  vita,  vita.  ^  sapiencia,  ifi  Virtus,  ^ 
Jesus  Nazarenus  rex  judeorum,  ^  fill  Domini,  miserere  mei, 
Amen,  ifi  Marcus  i{i  Matheus  ifi  Lucas  i{i  Johannes  mihi  suc- 
currite  et  defendite,  Amen.  iSjf  Omnipotens  sempiterna  Deus, 
hunc  N.  famulum  tuum  hoc  breve  scriptum  super  se  portantem 
prospere  salvet  dormiendo,  vigilando,  potando,  et  precipue 
Bompniando,  ab  omni  maligno  demonio,  eciam  ab  omni  maligno 
spiritu  iji.  ' 

In  Scot's  discovery,  p.  160,  we  have  "A  special  Charm  to 
preserve  all  Cattel  from  witchcraft. — At  Easter,  you  must  take 
certain  drops  that  lie  uppermost  of  the  holy  paschal  candle, 
and  make  a  little  wax  candle  thereof  ;  and  upon  some  Sunday 
morning  rathe,  light  it,  and  hold  it  so  as  it  may  drop  upon  and 
between  the  horns  and  ears  of  the  beast,  saying,  '  In  nomine 
Patris  et  Filii,' &c.,  and  burn  the  beast  a  little  between  the 
horns  on  the  ears  with  the  same  wax  ;  and  that  which  is  left 
thereof,  stick  it  cross-wise  about  the  stable  or  stall,  or  upon  the 
threshold,  or  over  the  door,  where  the  cattle  used  to  go  in  and 
out :  and  for  all  that  year  your  cattle  shall  never  be  bewitched.' 

Pennant  tells  us,  in  his  Tour  in  Scotland,  that  the  farmers 
carefully  preserve  their  cattle  against  witchcraft  by  placing 
boughs  of  mountain-ash  and  honeysuckle  in  their  cowhouses 
on  the  2d  of  May.  They  hope  to  preserve  the  milk  of  their 
cows,  and  their  wives  from  miscarriage,  by  tying  threads  about 


SORCERER  AND  MAGICIAN. 


39 


them  :  they  bleed'  the  supposed  witch  to  preserve  themselves 
from  her  charms. 

Gaule,  as  before  cited,  p.  142,  speaking  of  the  preservatives 
against  witchcraft,  mentions,  as  in  use  among  the  Papists,  "the 
tolling  of  a  baptized  bell,  signing  with  the  signe  of  the  crosse, 
sprinkling  with  holy  water,  blessing  of  oyle,  wax,  candles,  salt, 
bread,  cheese,  garments,  weapons,  &c,,  carrying  about  sainta 
reliques,  with  a  thousand  superstitious  foperiers  ;"  and  then 
enumerates  those  which  are  used  by  men  of  all  religions  :  "  1. 
In  seeking  to  a  witch  to  be  holpen  against  a  witch.  2,  In  using 
a  certain  or  supposed  charme,  against  an  uncertaineor  suspected 
witchcraft.  3.  In  searching  anxiously  for  the  witches  signe 
or  token  left  behinde  her  in  the  house  under  the  threshold,  in 
the  bed-straw  ;  and  to  be  sure  to  light  upon  it,  burning  every 
odd  ragge,  or  bone,  or  feather,  that  is  to  be  found.  4,  In  swear- 
ing, rayling,  threatning,  cursing,  and  banning  the  witch  ;  as  if 
this  were  a  right  way  to  bewitch  the  witch  from  bewitching.  5. 
In  banging  and  basting,  scratching  and  clawing,  to  draw  blood 
of  the  witch.  6.  In  daring  and  defying  the  witch  out  of  a  car- 
nal security  and  presumptuous  temerity." 

The  following  passage  is  taken  from  Stephens's  Characters, 
p.  375:  "The  torments  therefore  of  hot  iron  and  mercilesse 
scratching  navies  be  long  thought  uppon  and  much  threatned 
(by  the  females)  before  attempted.  Meantime  she  tolerates 
defiance  thorough  the  wrathfull  spittle  of  matrons,  in  stead  of 
fuell,  or  maintenance  to  her  damnable  intentions."  He  goes  on 
— "Children  cannot  smile  upon  her  without  the  hazard  of  a 
perpetual  wry  mouth :  a  very  nobleman's  request  may  be 
denied  more  safely  than  her  petetions  for  butter,  milke,  and 
small  becre  ;  and  a  great  ladies  or  queens  name  may  be  less 
doubtfully  derided.  Her  prayers  and  amen  be  a  charm  and  a 
curse  ;  her  contemplations  and  soules  delight  bee  other  men's 
mischief  e  :  her  portions  and  sutors  be  her  soule  and  a  succubus  : 
her  highest  adorations  beyew-trees,  dampish  church-yards,  and 
a  fayre  moonlight :  her  best  preservatives  be  odde  numbers  and 
mightie.  Tetragramaton." 


40 


SOROEllER  A  YD  MAGICIAN, 


THE  SORCERER  AND  MAGICIAN. 

A  soRCEBER  and  magician,  says  Grose,  differs  from  a  witch  in 
this  :  a  witch  derives  all  her  power  from  a  compact  with  the 
devil :  a  sorcerer  commands  him,  and  the  infernal  spirits,  by 
his  skill  in  powerful  charms  and  invocations;  and  also  soothes 
and  entices  them  by  fumigations.  For  the  devils  are  observed 
to  havs  delicate  nostrils,  abominating  and  flying  some  kind  of 
stinks  :  witness  the  flight  of  the  evil  spirit  into  the  remote  parts 
of  Egypt,  driven  by  the  smell  of  a  fish's  liver  burned  by  Tobit. 
They  are  also  found  to  be  peculiarly  fond  of  certain  perfumes  : 
insomuch  that  Lilly  informs  us  that,  one  Evens  having  raised 
n  spirit  at  the  request  of  Lord  Bothwell  and  Sir  Kenelm  Digby, 
and  forgotten  a  suffumigation,  the  ?-pirit,  vexed  at  the  disapoint- 
ment,  snatched  him  out  of  his  circle,  and  carried  him  from  his 
house  in  the  Minories  into  a  field  near  Batersea  Causeway. 

King  James,  in  his  Dremonologia,  says  :  "The  art  of  sorcery 
-consists  in  divers  forms  of  circles  and  conjurations  rightly  joined 
together,  few  or  more  in  number  according  to  the  number  of 
persons  conjurers  (always  passing  the  singular  number), 
According  to  the  qualitie  of  the  circle  and  form  of  the  appari- 
tion. Two  principle  things  cannot  well  in  that  errand  be 
wanted  :  holy  water  (whereby  the  devil  mocks  the  Papists),  and 
some  present  of  a  living  thing  unto  him.  There  are  likewise 
certain  dales  and  houres  that  they  observe  in  this  purpose. 
These  things  being  already  and  prepared,  circles  are  made, 
triangular,  quadrangular,  round,  double,  or  single,  according  to 
the  form  of  the  apparition  they  crave.  But  to  speake  of  the  di- 
verse forms  of  the  circles,  of  the  innumerable  characters  and 
crosses  that  are  within  and  without,  and  out-through  the  same  ; 
of  the  diverse  forms  of  apparitions  that  the  craftie  spirit  illudes 
them  with,  and  of  all  such  particulars  in  that  action,  I  remit  it 
over  to  many  that  have  busied  their  heads  in  describing  of  the 
same,  as  being  but  curious  and  altogether  unprofitable.  And  this 
farre  only  I  touch,  that,  when  the  conjured  spirit  appears,  which 
will  not  be  while  after  many  circumstances,  long  prayers  and 
much  muttering  and  raurmurings  of  the  conjurers,  like  a  pa- 
pist priest©  despatching  a  hunting  masse--how  soone,  I  say,  h9 


SOnCERER  AND  MAGICIAN. 


appeares,  if  they  have  missed  one  jote  oi  all  their  rites  ;  or  if 

any  of  their  feete  once  slyd  over  the  circle,  through  terror  of 
this  fearful  apparition,  he  paies  himself  at  that  time,  in  his 
owne  hand,  of  that  duo  debt  which  they  ought  him  and  other- 
VI  ise  would  have  delaied  longer  to  have  paied  him  ;  I  meane, 
he  carries  them  with  him,  body  and  soul. 

"  If  this  be  not  now  a  just  cause  to  make  them  weary  of 
these  formes  of  conjuration,  I  leave  it  to  you  to  judge  upon  ; 
considering  the  longsomeness  of  the  labor,  the  precise  keeping, 
of  dai3s  and  houres  (as  I  have  said),  the  terribleness  of  th« 
apparition,  and  the  present  peril  that  they  stand  in,  missing  the 
leest  circumstance  of  freite  that  they  ought  to  observe  :  and, 
on  the  other  part,  the  devill  is  glad  to  moove  them  to  a  plain© 
and  squfire  dealing  with  them,  as  I  said  before." 

"This,"  Grose  observes,  "is  a  pretty  accurate  description 
of  thic  mode  of  conjuration,  styled  the  circular  method  ;  but, 
with  all  due  respect  to  his  Majesty's  learning,  square  and  tri- 
angular circles  are  figures  not  to  be  found  in  Euclid  or  nny  of] 
the  common  writers  on  geometry.  But  perhaps  King  James 
learnt  his  mathematics  from  the  same  system  as  Doctor  Sach- 
everell,  who,  in  one  of  his  speeches  or  sermons,  made  use  of 
the  following  simile  :  'They  concur  like  parallel  lines,  meeting 
in  one  common  centre.'  " 

The  difference  between  a  conjuror,  a  witch,  and  an  enchanter, 
according  to  Minshew,  in  his  dictionarj',  is  as  follows:  "The 
conjuror  seemeth  by  jorairs  and  invocations  of  God's  powerful 
names,  to  compel  the  divell  to  say  or  doe  what  he  commandeth 
him.  The  witch  dealeth  rather  by  a  friendly  and  voluntarie 
conference  or  agreement  between  him  and  her  and  the  divell  or 
familar,  to  have  his  or  her  turn  served,  in  lieu  or  stead  of  blood 
or  other  gift  offered  unto  liim,  especially  of  his  or  her  soule. 
And  both  these  differ  from  inchanters  or  sorcerers,  because  the 
former  two  have  personal  conference  with  the  divell,  and  th« 
other  meddles  but  with  medicines  and  ceremonial  formeg  of 
words  called  charmes,  without  apparition." 

Reginald  Scot,  in  his  Discourse  on  Devi  lis  and  spirits,  p.  72, 
tells  as  that,  with  regard  to  conjurors,  "The  circles  by  which 


42 


SORCERER  AND  MAGICIAN. 


they  defend  themselves  are  commonly  nine  foot  in  breath,  but 

the  eastern  magicians  must  give  seven." 

Melton,  in  his  astrologaster,  p.  16,  speaking  of  conjurors  says  : 
"They  always  observe  the  time  of  the  moon  before  they  set 
their  figure,  and  when  they  have  set  their  figure  and  spread  their 
circle,  first  exorcise  the  wine  and  water  which  they  sprinkle  on 
their  circle,  then  mumble  in  an  unknown  language.  Doe  they 
not  crosse  and  exorcise  their  surplus,  their  silver  wand,  gowne, 
cap,  and  every  instrument  they  use  about  their  blacke  and  damn- 
able art  ?  Nay,  they  crosse  the  place  whereon  they  stand,  be- 
cause they  thinke  the  devill  hath  no  power  to  come  to  it  when 
they  have  blest  it." 

The  followinfi  passage  occurs  in  A  Strange  Horse-Bace,  by 
Thomas  Dekker,  1613,  signat.  D.  3  :  "He  darting  an  eye  upon 
them,  able  to  confound  a  thousand  conjurers  in  their  own 
circles  (though  with  a  wet  finger  they  could  fetch  up  a  little 
divell)." 

The  old  vulgar  ceremonies  used  in  raising  the  divell,  such 
as  making  a  circle  with  chalk,  setting  an  old  hat  in  the  centre 
of  it,  repeating  the  Lord's  Prayer  backward,  &c.  &c.,  are 
now  altogether  absolete,  and  seem  to  be  forgotten  even  amongst 
our  boys. 

Mason  in  his  Anatomic  of  Sorcerie,  1612,  p.  86,  ridicules 
"  In  chanters  and  charmers — thej',  which  by  using  of  certain© 
conceited  words,  characters,  circles,  amulets,  and  such-like 
vain  and  wicked  trumpery  (by  God's  permission)  doe  worke 
great  marvailes  :  as  namely  in  causing  of  sicknesse,  as  also 
in  curing  diseases  in  men's  bodies.  And  likewise  binding 
some,  that  they  cannot  use  their  naturall  powers  and  faculties, 
as  we  see  in  night-spells  ;  insomuch  as  some  of  them  doe  take 
in  hand  to  bind  the  divell  himselfe  by  their  inchantments." 
Th6  following  spell  is  from  Herrick's  Hesperides,  p,  304  : 

"  Holy  water  come  and  bring  : 
Cast  in  salt  for  seasoning  ; 
Set  the  brush  for  sprinkling  : 

Sacred  spittle  bring  ye  hither  ; 
Meale  and  it  now  mix  together, 
And  a  little  oyle  to  either  : 


SOnCERER  A^'D  MAGICIAN. 


43 


Give  the  tapors  here  their  liE;ht, 
King  the  saints-bell  to  affright 
Far  from  hence  the  evil  sprite." 

Another  mode  of  consulting  spirits  was  hy  the  berryl,  by 
means  of  a  speculator  or  seer,  who,  to  have  a  complete  sight, 
ought  to  be  a  pure  virgin,  a  youth  who  had  not  known  woman, 
or  at  least  a  person  of  irreproachable  life  and  purity  of  man- 
ners. The  method  of  such  consultation  is  this  :  the  conjuror, 
having  repeated  the  necessary  charms  and  adjurations,  with 
the  Litany,  or  invocation  peculiar  to  the  spirits  or  angels  he 
wishes  to  call  (for  every  one  has  his  particular  form),  the  seer 
looks  into  a  crystal  or  berryl,  wherein  he  will  see  the  answer, 
represented  either  by  types  or  figures  :  and  sometimes,  though 
very  rarely,  will  hear  the  angels  or  spirits  speak  articulately. 
Their  pronunciation  is,  as  Lilly  says,  like  the  Irish,  much  in  the 
throat. 

In  Lodge's  Devil's  Incarnat  of  this  Age,  1596,  in  the  epistle 
to  the  reader,  are  the  following  quaint  allusions  to  sorcerers  and 
magicians:  "Buy  therefore  this  Ch'isiall,  and  you  shall  see 
them  in  their  common  appearance  :  and  read  these  exorcisms 
advisedly,  and  you  may  be  sure  to  conjure  them  without 
crossings  :  but  if  any  man  long  for  a  familiar  for  false  dice,  a 
spirit  to  tell  fortunes,  a  charme  to  heale  disease,  this  only  book 
can  best  fit  him."  Valiancy,  in  his  Collectanea  de  Eebus  Hiber- 
nicis,  No.  xiii.  17,  says  :  In  the  Highlands  of  Scotland  a  large 
chrystal,  of  a  figure  somewhat  oval,  was  kept  by  the  priests  to 
work  charms  by  ;  wjiter  poured  upon  it  at  this  day  is  given  to 
cattle  against  diseases  ;  these  stones  are  now  preserved  by  the 
oldest  and  most  superstitious  in  the  country  (Shawe).  They 
were  once  common  in  Ireland,  I  am  informed  the  Earl  of 
Tyrone  is  in  jiossession  of  a  very  fine  one."  In  Andrew's  Con- 
tinuation of  Henry's  History  of  Great  Britain,  p.  C88,  we  read  : 
"The  conjurations  of  Dr  Dee  having  induced  his  familiar  spirit 
to  visit  a  kind  of  talisman,  Kelly  (a  brother  adventurer)  was  ap- 
pointed to  watch  and  describe  his  gestures."  The  dark  shining 
stone  used  by  these  impostors  was  in  the  Strawberry  Hill  collec- 
tion.   It  appeared  like  a  polished  piece  of  cannel  coal. 

Lilly  describes  one  of  these  berryls  or  crystals.    It  was,  ha 


SORCERER  AND  MAGICIAN. 


says,  fts  large  as  an  orange,  set  in  silver  with  a  cross  at  the  top, 
and  round  about  engraved  the  names  oi"  the  angels  Raphael, 
Gabriel,  and  Uriel.  A  delineation  of  another  is  engraved  in 
the  frontispiece  to  Awbrey's  Miscellanies.  This  mode  of  in- 
quiry was  practised  by  Dr.  Dee,  the  celebrated  mathematician. 
His  speculator  was  named  Kelly.  From  him,  and  others  practis- 
ing this  art,  we  have  a  long  muster-roll  of  the  infernal  host,  their 
different  natures,  tempers,  and  appearances.  Dr.  Reginald 
Scot  has  given  us  a  list  of  some  of  the  chiefs  of  these  devils  or 
spirits.  These  sorcerers,  or  magicians,  do  not  always  employ 
their  art  to  do  mischief  ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  frequently  exert 
it  to  cure  diseases  inflicted  by  witches,  to  discover  theives, 
recover  stolen  goods,  to  fortell  future  events  and  the  state  of 
absent  friends.  On  this  account  they  are  frequently  called 
White  Witches. 

Ady,  in  his  candle  in  the  dark,  p.  29.  speaking  of  common 
juglers,  that  go  up  and  down  to  play  their  tricks  in  fayrs  and 
markets,  says:  "I  will  speak  of  one  man  more  excelling  in 
that  craft  than  others,  that  went  about  in  King  James  his  time, 
and  long  since,  who  called  himself  the  King's  Majesties  most  ex- 
cellent Hocus  Pocus,  and  so  was  he  called,  becaus  that  at  the 
playing  of  every  trick  he  used  to  say:  '  Hocus  pocus,  tontus,  tal- 
ontus,  vade  celeriter  jubeo,'  a  dark  composure  of  words  to 
blinde  the  ej'es  of  beholders." 

In  the  Character  of  a  Quack-Astrologer,  1673,  our  wise  man, 
"a  gipsy  of  the  uper  form,"'  is  called  "a  three-penny  prophet 
that  undertakes  the  telling  of  other  folks'  foriimes,  meerly  to 
supply  the  pinching  necessities  of  his  o?cn."  Ibid,  signat  B.  3, 
our  cunning  man  is  said  to  "begin  with  theft;  and  to  help 
people  to  what  they  have  lost,  picks  their  pocket  afresh:  not  a 
ring  or  a  spoon  is  nim'd  away,  but  pays  him  twelve-pence  toll, 
and  the  ale-drapers'  often-straying  tankard  yeilds  him  a  con- 
stant revenue:  for  that  purpose  he  maintains  as  strict  a  corres- 
pondence with  gilts  and  lifters  as  a  montebank  with  applauding 
midwives  and  recommending  nurses:  and  if  at  any  time,  to 
keep  up  his  credit  with  the  rabble,  he  discovers  anything,  'tis 
done  by  the  same  occult  hermetic  learning,  her«tofor«  profast 
by  the  renowned  Moll  Cutpurse." 


SORCERER  AXD  MAGICIAN. 


45 


The  following  curious  passage  is  from  Lodge's  Incarnato 
Devils,  lo9H,  p.  13:  "There  are  many  in  London  now  adaies 
that  are  besotted  with  this  sinne,  one  of  whom  I  saw  on  a  white 
horse  in  Fleet  street,  a  tanner  knave  I  never  lookt  on,  who 
with  one  figure  (cast  out  of  a  schollcr's  studie  for  a  necessary 
servant  at  Borcordo)  promised  to  find  any  man's  oxen  were  they 
lost,  restore  any  man's  goods  if  they  were  stolne,  and  win  any 
man  love,  where  or  howsoever  he  settled  it,  but  his  jugling 
knacks  were  quickly  discovered. 

In  Articlas  of  Inquirie  given  in  Charge  by  the  Bishop  of 
Sarum,  a.  d.  1614,  is  the  following:  "67.  Item,  whether  you 
have  any  conjurers,  charmers,  calcours,  witches,  or  fortune- 
tellers, who  they  are,  and  who  do  resort  unto  them  for  coun- 
sell ?" 

In  the  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,  xii,  465,  in  the  ac- 
count of  the  parish  of  Kirkmichael,  county  of  Banfif,  we  read: 
"Among  the  branches  into  which  the  moss-grown  trunk  of 
superstition  divides  itself,  may  be  reckoned  witchcraft  and 
magic.  These,  though  decayed  and  withered  by  time,  still 
retain  some  faint  traces  of  their  ancient  verdure.  Even  at 
present  witches  are  supposed,  as  of  old,  to  ride  on  broomsticks 
through  the  air.  In  this  country,  the  12ih  of  May  is  one  of 
their  festivals.  On  the  morning  of  that  day  ihey  are  frequently 
seen  dancing  on  the  surface  cf  the  water  oi  Avon,  brushing  the 
dews  cf  the  lawn,  and  milking  cows  in  their  fold.  Any  un- 
common sickness  i-i  generally  attributed  to  their  demoniacal 
practices.  They  make  fields  barren  or  fertile,  raise  or  still 
whirlwinds,  give  or  take  away  milk  at  pleasure.  The  force  of 
their  incantations  is  not  to  be  resisted,  and  extends  even  to  the 
moon  i:i  the  midst  of  her  aerial  career.  It  is  the  good  fortune, 
however,  of  this  country  to  be  provided  with  an  anti-conjuror 
that  defeats  both  them  and  their  sable  patron  in  their  combined 
efforts.  His  fame  is  widely  diffused,  and  wherever  ho  goes 
crescil  eundo.  If  the  spouse  is  jealous  of  her  husband,  the  anti- 
conjuror  is  consulted  to  restore  the  affections  of  his  bewitched 
heart.  If  a  near  connexion  lies  confined  to  the  bed  of  sickness, 
^t  is  vain  to  expect  relief  without  the  balsamic  medicine  of  the 
anti-conjuror.    If  a  person  happens  to  be  deprived  of  his  senses, 


46 


GHOSTS,  OR  AFFARITIONS. 


the  deranged  cells  of  the  brains  must  be  adjusted  by  the  magio 
charms  of  the  anti-conjuror.  If  a  farmer  loses  his  cattle,  the 
houses  must  be  purified  with  water  sprinkled  by  him.  In 
searching  for  the  latent  mischief,  this  gentleman  never  fails  to 
find  little  parcels  of  heterogeneous  ingrediments  lurking  in  the 
walls,  consisting  of  the  legs  of  mice  and  the  wings  of  bats;  all 
the  work  of  the  witches.  Few  things  seem  too  arduous  for  his 
abilities;  and  though,  like  Paracelsus,  he  has  not  as  yet  boasted 
of  having  discovered  the  philosopher's  stone,  yet,  by  the  power 
of  his  occult  science,  he  still  attracts  a  little  of  their  gold  from 
the  pockets  where  it  lodges,  and  in  this  way  makes  a  shift  to 
acquire  subsistence  for  himself  and  family.'' 

There  is  a  folio  sheet,  printed  at  London,  1561,  preserved  in  a 
collection  of  Miscellanies  in  the  archives  of  the  Society  of  Anti- 
quaries of  London,  lettered  Miscel.  Q.  Eliz.  No.  7,  entitled, 
"  The  unfained  retractation  of  Fraunces  Cox,  which  he  uttered 
at  the  pillery  in  Chepesyde  and  elsewhere,  accordyng  to  the 
counsels  commaundement  anno  1561,  25tb  of  June,  beying  ac- 
cused for  the  use  of  certayne  sinistral  and  divelysh  artes."  In 
this  he  says  that  from  a  child  he  began  "  to  practise  the  most 
divelish  and  supersticious  knowledge  of  necromancie,  and  invo- 
cations of  spirites,  'and  curiouo  astrology.  He  now  utterl}'  re- 
nounces and  forsakes  all  such  divelish  sciences,  wherein  the 
name  of  God  is  most  horribly  abused,  and  society  or  pact  with 
wicked  spirits  most  detestably  practised,  as  necromancie,  geom. 
ancie,  and  that  curious  part  of  astrology  wherein  is  contained 
the  calculating  of  nativities  or  casting  of  nativities,  with  all  the 
other  magikes." 


GHOSTS,  OR  APPAEITIONS. 

A  Ghost,"  according  to  Grose,  "  is  supposed  to  be  the  spirit 
of  a  person  deceased,  who  is  either  commissioned  to  return  for 
some  especial  errand,  such  as  the  discovery  of  a  murder,  to  pro- 
cure restitution  of  lands  or  money  unjustly  withheld  from  an 
orphan  or  widow,  or,  having  committed  some  injustice  whilst 


GHOSTS,  OR  APPARITIONS. 


47 


living,  cannot  rest  till  that  is  redressed.  Sometimes  Iho  occa- 
sion of  spirits  revisiting  this  world  is  to  inform  their  heir  in 
what  secret  place,  or  i^rivate  drawer  in  an  old  trunk,  they  had 
hidden  the  title  deeds  of  the  estate;  or  where,  in  troublesome 
times,  they  buried  their  mone}^  or  plate.  Some  ghosts  of  mur 
dered  persons,  whose  bodies  have  been  secretly  buried,  cannot 
be  at  ease  till  their  bones  have  been  taken  up,  and  deposited  in 
consecrated  ground,  with  all  the  rites  of  Christian  burial.  This 
idea  is  the  remains  of  a  very  old  piece  of  heathen  superstition: 
the  ancients  believed  that  Charon  was  not  permitted  to  ferry 
over  the  ghosts  of  unburied  persons,  but  that  they  wandered  up  - 
and  down  the  banks  of  the  river  Styx  for  an  hundred  years,  after 
which  they  were  admitted  to  a  passage. 

"  Sometimes  ghosts  appear  in  consequence  of  an  agreement 
made,  whilst  living,  with  some  particular  friend,  that  he  who 
first  died  should  appear  to  the  survivor.  Glanvil  tells  us  of 
the  ghost  of  a  person  who  had  lived  but  a  disorderly  kind  of 
life,  for  which  it  was  condemned  to  wander  up  and  down  the 
t  irth,  in  the  company  of  evil  spirits  till  the  day  of  judgment. 
In  most  of  the  relations  of  ghosts  they  are  supposed  to  be  mere 
"?riul  beings,  without  substance,  and  that  they  can  pass  through 
alls  and  other  solid  bodies  at  pleasure.  A  particular  instance 
f  this  is  given  in  Eelatiun  the  27th  in  Glanvil's  Collection, 
ivhere  one  David  Hunter,  neatherd  to  the  Bishop  cf  Down  and 
Connor,  was  for  a  long  time  haunted  by  the  apparition  of  an  old 
woman,  whom  he  was  by  a  secret  impulse  obliged  to  follow 
whenever  she  appeared,  which  he  says  he  did  for  a  considerable 
time,  even  if  in  bed  with  his  wife:  and  because  his  wife  could 
not  hold  him  in  his  bed,  she  would  go  too,  and  walk  after  him 
till  day,  though  she  saw  nothing;  but  his  little  dog  was  so  well 
acquainted  with  the  apparition,  that  he  would  follow  it  as  well 
as  his  master.  If  a  tree  stood  in  her  walk,  he  observed  her  al- 
ways to  go  through  it.  Notwithstanding  this  seeming  imma- 
terialitj',  this  very  ghost  was  not  without  some  substance;  for 
having  performed  her  errand,  she  desired  Hunter  to  lift  her 
from  the  ground,  in  the  doing  of  which,  he  says,  she  felt  just 
like  a  bag  of  feathers.  We  sometimes  also  read  of  ghosts  striking 
violent  blows;  and  that,  if  not  made  way  for,  they  overturn  all 


48 


GHOSTS,  OR  APPARITIOm 


impediment,  like  a  furious  wbirhvintl.  Glanvil  mentions  an 
instance  of  this,  in  Eelation  17tli,  of  a  Dutch  lieutenant  who  had 
the  faculty  of  seeing  ghosts;  and  who,  being  prevented  making 
way  for  one  which  he  mentioned  to  some  friends  as  coming 
towards  them,  v/as,  with  his  companions,  yiolentlj'^  thrown  down, 
and  sorely  bruised.  We  further  learn,  by  Relation  16th,  that 
the  hand  of  a  ghost  is  '  as  cold  as  a  clod.' 

"  The  usual  time  at  which  ghosts  make  their  appearance  is 
midnight,  and  seldom  before  it  is  dark;  though  some  auda- 
cious spirits  have  been  said  to  appear  even  by  daylight:  but  of 
this  there  are  few  instances,  and  those  mostly  ghosts  who  have 
been  laid,  perhaps  in  the  Eed  Sea  (of  which  more  hereafter), 
and  whose  times  of  confinement  wei'e  expired:  these,  like  felons 
confined  to  the  lighters,  are  said  to  return  more  troublesome 
and  daring  than  before.  No  ghosts  can  appear  on  Christmas 
Eve;  this  Shakspeare  has  put  into  the  mouth  of  one  of  his  char- 
acters in  *  Hamlet.' 

*•  Ghosts,"  adds  Grose,  "  commonly  appear  in  the  same  dress 
they  usually  wore  whilst  living;  though  they  are  sometimes 
clothed  all  in  white;  but  that  is  chiefly  the  churchyard  ghosts, 
who  have  no  particular  business,  but  seem  to  appear  pro  bono 
publico,  or  to  scare  drunken  rustics  from  tumbling  over  their 
graves.  I  cannot  learn  that  ghosts  carry  tapers  in  their  hands, 
as  they  are  sometimes  depicted,  though  the  room  in  which  they 
appear,  if  without  fire  or  candle,  is  frequently  said  to  be  as  light 
as  day.  Dragging  chains  is  not  the  fashion  of  English  ghosts; 
chains  and  black  vestments  being  chiefly  the  accoutrements  of 
foreign  spectres,  seen  in  arbitrary  governments:  dead  or  alive, 
English  spirits  are  free. 

"  If,  during  the  time  of  an  apparition,  there  isa  lighted  candle 
in  the  room,  it  will  burn  extremely  blue:  this  is  so  universally 
acknowledged,  that  many  eminent  i^hilosophers  have  busied 
themselves  in  accounting  for  it,  without  once  doubting  the  truth 
of  the  fact.  Dogs,  too,  have  the  faculty  of  seeing  spirits,  as  is 
instanced  in  David  Hunter's  relation,  above  quoted ;  but  in  that 
case  they  usually  show  signs  of  terror,  by  whining  and  creeping 
to  their  master  for  protection:  and  it  is  generally  supposed  that 
they  often  see  things  of  this  nature  when  their  owner  cannot 


GHOSTS,  OR  APPARITIONS.  « 

there  being  son:e"persons,  particularly  those  born  on  a  Christmas 
eve,  who  cannot  see  spirits. 

*•  The  coming  of  a  spirit  is  r.nnounced  some  time  before  its 
appearance  b)'  a  variety  of  loud  and  dreadful  noises;  sometimes 
rattling  in  the  old  hall  like  a  coach  and  six,  and  rumbling  up 
and  down  the  staircase  like  the  trundling  of  bowls  or  cannon- 
balls.  At  length  the  door  flies  open,  and  the  spectre  stalks 
sloAvly  up  to  the  bed's  foot,  and  opening  the  curtains,  looks 
steadfastly  at  the  person  in  bed  by  whom  it  is  "seen;  a  ghost 
being  very  rarely,  visible  to  more  than  one  person,  although  there 
are  several  in  company.  It  is  here  necessary  to  observe,  that  it 
has  been  universally  found  by  experience,  as  well  as  affirmed  by 
divers  aj^paritions  themselves,  that  a  ghost  has  not  the  power  to 
speak  till  it  has  been  first  spoken  to:  so  that,  notwithstanding 
the  urgency  of  the  business  on  which  it  may  come,  everytLing 
must  stand  still  till  the  person  visited  can  find  sufficient  courage 
to  speak  to  it:  an  event  that  sometimes  does  not  take  place  for 
many  years.  It  has  not  been  found  that  female  ghosts  are  more 
loquacious  than  those  df  the  male  sex,  both  being  equally  re- 
strained by  this  law. 

"  The  mode  of  addressing  a  ghost  is  by  commanding  it,  in 
the  name  of  the  three  persons  of  the  Trinitj',  to  tell  you  who  it 
is,  and  what  is  its  business:  this  it  mny  be  necessary  to  repeat 
three  times;  after  which  it  will,  in  a  low  and  hollow  voice,  de- 
clare its  satisfaction  at  being  spoken  to,  and  desire  the  party  ad- 
dressing it  not  to  be  afraid,  for  it  will  do  him  no  harm.  This 
being  premised,  it  commonly  enters  its  narrative,  which  being 
completed,  and  its  requests  or  commands  given,  with  injunct- 
ions that  they  be  immediately  executed,  it  vanishes  away,  fre- 
quently in  a  flash  of  light;  in  which  case,  some  ghosts  have  been 
so  considerate  as  to  desire  the  party  to  whom  they  appeared  to 
shut  their  eyes.  Sometimes  its  departure  is  attended  with  de- 
lightful music.  During  the  narration  of  its  business,  a  ghost 
must  by  no  means  be  intewrupted  by  questions  of  any  kind;  so 
doing  is  extremely  dangerous:  if  any  doubts  arise,  they  must  be 
stated  after  the  spirit  has  done  its  tale.  Questions  respecting 
its  state,  or  the  state  of  any  of  their  former  acquaintance,  ar<3  of- 
fensive, and  not  often  answered ;  spirits,  perhaps,  being  restrainf 


60 


GHOSTS,  OB  APPABITIOm 


cd  from  divulging  the  secrets  of  their  prison-honse.  Occasion, 
ally  spirits  will  even  condescend  to  talk  on  common  occur- 
ences. 

"  It  is  somewhat  remarkable  that  ghosts  do  not  go  about  their 
business  like  the  persons  of  this  world.  In  cases  of  murder,  a 
ghost,  instead  of  going  to  the  next  justice  of  the  peace  and  lay- 
ing its  information,  or  to  the  nearest  relation  of  the  person  mur- 
dered, appears  to  some  poor  laborer  who  knows  none  of  the 
parties,  draws  the  curtains  of  some  decripit  nurse  or  alms-wo- 
man, or  hovers  about  the  place  where  his  body  is  deposited. 
The  same  circuitous  mode  is  pursued  with  respect  to  redressing 
injured  orphans  or  widows:  when  it  seems  as  if  the  shortest  and 
most  certain  way  would  be  to  go  to  the  person  guilty  of  the  in- 
justice, and  haunt  him  continually  till  he  be  terrified  into  a  res- 
titution. Nor  are  the  pointing  out  lost  writings  generally  man- 
aged in  a  more  summary  way;  the  ghost  commonly  applying  to 
a  third  person  ignorant  of  the  whole  affair,  and  a  stranger  to  all 
concerned.  But  it  is  presumptuous  to  scrutinize  too  far  into 
these  matters:  ghosts  have  undoubtedly  forms  and  customs  pe- 
culiar to  themselves. 

"  If,  after  the  first  appearance,  the  persons  employed  neglect, 
or  are  prevented  from,  performing  the  message  or  business 
committed  to  their  management,  the  ghost  appears  continually 
to  them,  at  first  with  a  discontented,  next  an  angry,  and  at 
length  with  a  furious  countenance,  threatening  to  tear  them 
in  pieces  if  the  matter  is  not  forllivrith  executed:  sometimes  ter- 
rifying them,  as  in  Glanvil's  llelation  26th,  by  appearing  in 
many  formidable  shapes,  and  sometimes  even  striking  them  a 
violent  blow.  Of  blows  given  by  ghosts  there  are  many  in- 
stances, and  some  wherein  they  have  been  followed  with  an 
incurable  lameness. 

"It  should  have  been  observed  that  ghosts,  in  delivering  their 
commissions,  in  order  to  ensure  belief,  communicate  to  the  per- 
sons employed  some  secret,  known  only  to  the  parties  concern- 
ed and  themselves,  the  relation  of  which  always  produces  the 
effect  intended.  The  business  being  completed,  ghosts  appeal 
with  a  cheerful  countenance,  saying  they  shall  now  be  at  rest, 
and  will  never  more  disturb  any  one;  and,  thanking  their 


GHOSTS,  OR  APPARITIONS. 


51 


agents,  by  way  of  reward  communicate  to  them  something  rela- 
tive to  themselves,  which  they  will  never  reveal. 

**  Sometimes  ghosts  appear,  and  disturb  a  house,  without 
deigning  to  give  any  reason  for  so  doing:  with  these,  the  short- 
est and  only  way  is  to  exorcise  and  eject  them;  or,  as  the  vulgar 
term  is,  lay  them.  For  this  purpose  there  must  be  two  or  three 
clergymen,  and  the  ceremony  must  be  performed  in  Latin;  a 
language  that  strikes  the  most  audacious  ghost  M'ith  terror.  A 
ghost  may  be  laid  for  any  term  less  than  an  hundred  years,  and 
in  any  place  or  body,  full  or  empty ;  as,  a  solid  oak — the  pom- 
mel of  a  sword— a  barrel  of  beer,  if  a  yeoman  or  simple  gentle- 
man— or  a  pipe  of  wine,  if  an  esquire  or  a  justice.  But  of  all 
places  the  most  common,  and  what  a  ghost  least  likes,  is  the 
Red  Sea;  it  being  related  in  many  instances,  that  ghosts  have 
most  earnestly  besought  the  exorcists  not  to  confine  them  in 
that  place.  It  is  nevertheless  considered  as  an  indisputable 
fact,  that  there  are  an  infinite  number  laid  there,  perhaps  from 
its  being  a  safer  prison  than  any  other  nearer  at  hand;  though 
neither  history  nor  tradition  gives  us  any  instance  of  ghosts  es- 
caping or  returning  from  this  kind  of  transportation  before  their 
time." 

In  the  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,  xxi.  148,  parish  of  Mon- 
quihitter,  in  the  additioDal  communications  from  the  Rev.  A. 
Johnstone,  we  read:  "  In  opinion,  an  amazing  alteration  has 
been  produced  by  education  and  social  intercourse.  Few  of  the 
old  being  able  to  read,  and  fewer  still  to  write,  their  minds  were 
clouded  by  ignorance.  The  mind  being  uncultivated,  the  imag- 
ination readily  admitted  the  terrors  of  superstition.  The  ap- 
pearance of  ghosts  and  demons  too  frequently  engrossed  the 
conversation  of  the  young  and  the  old.  The  old  man's  fold, 
where  the  Druid  sacrificed  to  the  demon  for  his  corn  and  cattle, 
could  not  be  violated  by  the  ploughshare.  Lucky  and  unlucky 
days,  dreams,  and  omens,  were  most  religiously  attended  to, 
and  reputed  witches,  by  their  spells  and  their  prayers,  were  art- 
ful enough  to  lay  every  parish  under  contribution.  In  short,  a 
system  of  mythology  fully  as  absurd  and  amusing  as  the  myth- 
ology of  Homer  obtained  general  belief.  But  now  ghosts  and 
demons  are  no  longer  visible.    The  old  man's  fold  is  reduced 


52 


GHOSTS,  on  APPAEITIONS. 


to  tillage.  The  sagacious  old  woman,  who  has  survived  her 
friends  and  means,  is  treated  with  humanit)-,  in  spite  of  the 
grisly  bristles  which  adorn  her  mouth;  and,  in  the  minds  of  the 
3'oung,  cultivated  by  education,  a  steady  pursuit  of  the  arts  ox 
life  has  banished  the  chimeras  of  fancy.  Books,  trade,  manu- 
facture, foreign  and  domestic  news,  now  engross  the  conversa- 
tion; and  the  topic  of  the  day  is  alv\^ays  warmly,  if  not  ingenu- 
ously, discussed.  From  believing  too  much,  manj'-,  particular- 
ly in  the  higher  walks  of  life,  have  rushed  to  the  opposite  ex- 
treme of  believing  too  little;  so  that,  even  in  this  remote  corner, 
scepticism  may  but  too  justly  boast  of  her  votaries." 

Gay  has  left  us  a  jjretty  tale  of  an  apparition.  The  golden 
mark  being  found  in  bed  is  indeed  after  the  indelicate  manner 
of  Swift,  but  yet  is  one  of  those  happy  strokes  that  rival  the  fel- 
icity of  that  dash  of  the  sponge  which  (as  Pliny  tells  us)  hit  off 
so  well  the  expression  of  the  froth  in  Protogenes's  dog.  It  is 
impossible  not  to  envy  the  author  the  conception  of  a  thought 
which  we  know  not  whether  to  call  more  comical  or  more  point- 
edly satirical, 

[The  following  singular  account  of  an  apparition  is  taken  from 
a  magazine  of  the  last  century:  "  As  I  was  turning  over  a  parcel 
of  old  papers  some  time  ago,  I  discovered  an  original  letter  from 
Mr.  Caswell,  the  mathematician,  to  the  learned  Dr.  Bentley, 
when  he  was  living  in  Bishop  Stillingfleet's  family,  inclosing  an 
account  of  an  apj^arition  taken  from  the  mouth  of  a  clergyman 
who  saw  it.  In  this  account  there  are  some  curious  particulars, ' 
and  I  shall  therefore  copy  the  whole  narrative  without  any  omis- 
sion, except  of  the  name  of  the  deceased  person  who  is  supposed 
to  have  appeared,  for  reasons  that  will  be  obvious. 

"  '  To  the  Rev.  Mr.  Eichard  Bentley,  at  my  Lord  Bishop  of 
"Worcester's  House  in  Park  Street,  in  Westminister,  London. 

"  '  Sir, — When  I  was  in  London,  April  last,  I  fully  intended 
to  have  waited  upon  you  again,  as  I  said,  but  a  cold  and  lame- 
ness seized  me  next  day;  the  cold  took  away  my  voice,  and  the 
other  my  power  of  walking,  so  I  presently  took  coach  for  Oxford. 
I  am  much  your  debtor,  and  in  particular  for  your  good  inten- 
tions in  relation  to  Mr.  D.,  though  that,  as  it  has  proved,  would 


GHOSTS,  OR  APPARITIONS. 


53 


not  have  turned  to  my  advantage.  However,  I  am  obliged  to 
you  upon  that  and  other  accounts,  and  if  I  had  opportunity  to 
shew  it,  you  should  find  how  much  I  am  your  faithful  servant. 

"  '  I  havo  sent  you  inclosed  a  relation  of  an  apparition;  the 
story  I  had  from  two  persons,  who  each  had  it  from  the  author, 
and  yet  their  accounts  somewhat  varied,  and  passing  through 
more  mouths  has  varied  much  more;  therefore  I  got  a  friend  to 
bring  me  the  author  at  a  chamber,  where  I  wrote  it  down  from 
the  author's  mouth;  after  which  I  read  it  to  him,  and  gave  him 
another  copy;  he  said  he  could  swear  to  the  truth  of  it,  as  far  as 
he  is  concerned.  He  is  the  curate  of  Warblington,  Batchelour 
of  Arts  of  Trinity  College,  in  Oxford,  about  six  years  standing 
in  the  University;  I  hear  no  ill  report  of  his  behaviour  here.  He 
is  now  gone  to  his  curacy;  he  has  promised  to  send  up  thehanda 
of  the  tenants  and  his  man,  who  is  a  smith  by  trade,  and  the 
farmer's  men,  as  far  as  they  are  concerned.  Mr.  Brereton,  the 
rector,  would  have  him  say  nothing  of  the  story,  for  that  he  can 
get  no  tenant,  though  he  has  offered  the  house  for  ten  pounds  a 
year  less.  Mr.  P.  the  former  incumbent,  whom  the  apparition 
represented,  was  a  man  of  a  very  ill  report,  supposed  to  have 
got  children  of  his  maid,  and  to  have  murthered  them;  but  I 
advised  the  curate  to  SfcV  nothing  himself  of  this  last  part  of  P., 
but  leave  that  to  the  parishioners,  who  knew  him.  Those  who 
knew  this  P.,  say  he  had  exactly  such  a  gown,  and  that  he  used 
to  whistle. 

*  "  '  Yours,  J.  Caswell.' 

"  I  desire  you  not  to  suffer  any  copy  of  this  to  be  taken,  lest 
some  Mercui'y  news-teller  should  print  it,  till  the  curate  had 
sent  up  the  testimony  of  others  and  self. 
H.  H.  Dec.  15,  1695. 

"  Narrative.  —At  Warblington,  near  Havant,  in  Hampshire, 
within  six  miles  of  Portsmouth,  in  the  parsonage-house  dwelt 
Thomas  Perce  the  tenant,  with  his  wife  and  a  child,  a  man-ser- 
vant, Thomas  ,  and  a  maid-strvant.    About  the  beginning 

of  August,  anno  1G95,  on  a  Monday,  about  nine  or  ten  at  night, 
all  being  gone  to  bed,  except  the  maid  with  the  child,  the  maid 
b«ing  in  the  kitchen,  and  having  raked  up  the  fire,  took  a  candl^ 


54 


GHOSTS,  OR  APPARITIOXS. 


in  one  hand,  and  the  child  in  the  other  arm,  and  turning  about 
saw  one  in  a  black  gown  walking  through  the  room,  and  thence 
out  of  the  door  into  the  orchard.  Upon  this  the  maid,  hasting 
up  stairs,  having  recovered  but  two  steps,  cried  out;  on  which 
the  master  and  mistress  ran  down,  found  the  candle  in  her  hand, 
she  grasping  the  child  about  its  neck  with  the  other  arm.  She 
told  them  the  reason  of  her  crying  out;  she  would  not  thatnight 
tarry  in  the  house,  but  removed  to  another  belonging  to  one 
Henry  Salter,  farmer;  where  she  cried  out  all  the  night  from 
the  terror  she  was  in,  and  she  could  not  be  persuaded  to  go  any 
more  to  the  house  upon  any  terms. 

On  the  morrow  (i.  e.  Tuesday),  the  tenant's  wife  came  to 
me,  lodging  then  at  Havant,  to  desire  my  advice,  and  have  con- 
sult with  some  friends  about  it;  I  told  lier  I  thought  it  was  a 
flam,  and  that  they  had  a  mind  to  abuse  Mr,  Brereton  the  rec- 
tor, whose  house  it  was;  she  desired  me  to  come  up;  I  told  her 
I  would  come  up  and  sit  up  or  lie  there,  as  she  pleased;  for 
then  as  to  all  stories  of  ghosts  and  apparitions  I  was  an  infidel. 
I  went  thither  and  sate  up  the  Tuesday  night  with  the  tenant 
and  his  man-servant.  About  twelve  or  one  o'clock  I  searched 
all  the  rooms  in  the  house  to  see  if  any  bod}'-  were  hid  there  to 
impose  upon  me.  At  last  we  came  into  a  lumber  room,  there  I 
smiling  told  the  tenant  that  was  with  me,  that  I  would  call  for 
the  apparition,  if  there  was  any,  and  oblige  him  to  ccme.  The 
tenant  then  seemed  to  bo  afraid,  but  I  told  him  I  would  defend 
him  from  harm  !  and  then  I  repeated  Barbara  celarent  Darji, 
(fee,  jestingly;  on  this  the  tenant's  countenance  changed,  so  that 
he  was  ready  to  drop  down  with  fear.  Then  I  told  him  I  per- 
ceived he  was  afraid,  and  I  would  prevent  its  coming,  and  re- 
peated Baralipton,  &c.,  then  he  recovered  his  spirits  pretty  well, 
and  we  left  the  room  and  went  down  into  the  kitchen,  where  we 
were  before,  and  sate  up  there  the  remaining  part  of  the  night, 
and  had  no  manner  of  disturbance. 

"  Thursday  night  the  tenant  and  I  lay  together  in  one  room 
and  the  man  in  another  room,  and  he  saw  something  walk  along 
in  a  black  gown  and  place  itself  agr.inst  a  window,  and  there 
stood  for  some  time,  and  then  walked  off.  Friday  morning  the 
man  relating  this,  I  asked  him  why  he  did  not  call  me,  and  I 


GHOSTS,  OR  APPARITIONS. 


55 


told  him  I  thought  that  was  a  trick  or  flam ;  he  told  me  the  reason 
why  he  did  not  call  me  was,  that  he  was  not  able  to  speak  or 
move.  Friday  night  we  lay  as  before,  and  Saturday  night,  and 
had  no  disturbance  either  of  the  nights. 

Sunday  night  I  lay  by  myself  in  one  room  (not  that  where 
the  man  saw  the  apparition),  and  the  tenant  and  his  man  in  one 
bed  in  another  room;  and  betwixt  twelve  and  two  the  man  heard 
something  walk  in  their  room  at  the  bed's  foot,  and  whistling 
very  well;  at  last  it  came  to  the  bed's  side,  drew  the  curtain  and 
looked  on  them;  after  some  time  it  moved  off;  then  the  man 
called  to  me,  desired  me  to  come,  for  that  there  was  something 
in  the  room  went  about  whistling.  I  asked  him  whether  he  had 
any  light  or  could  strike  one,  he  told  me  no;  then  I  leapt  out  of 
bed,  and,  not  staying  to  put  on  my  clothes,  went  out  of  my 
room  and  along  a  gallery  to  the  door,  which  I  found  locked  or 
bolted;  I  desired  him  to  unlock  the  door,  for  that  I  could  not 
get  in;  then  he  got  out  of  bed  and  opened  the  door,  which  was 
near,  and  went  immediately  to  bed  again.  I  went  in  three  or 
four  steps,  and,  it  being  a  moonshine  night,  I  saw  the  appar- 
ition move  from  the  bed's  side,  and  claj)  up  against  the  wall  that 
divided  their  room  and  mine.  I  went  and  stood  directly  against 
it  within  my  arm's  length  of  it,  and  asked  it,  in  the  name  of  God, 
what  it  was,  that  made  it  come  disturbing  of  us?  I  stood  some 
time  expecting  an  answer,  and  receiving  none,  and  thinking  it 
might  be  some  fellow  hid  in  the  room  to  fright  me,  7  put  out  my 
arm  to  feel  it,  and  my  hand  seemingly  went  through  the  body  of  it,  and 
felt  no  manner  of  substance  till  it  came  to  the  wall;  then  I  drew  hack 
my  hand,  and  still  it  was  in  the  same  place.  Till  now  I  had  not  the 
least  fear,  and  even  now  had  very  little;  then  I  adjured  it  to  tell 
me  what  it  was.  When  I  had  said  those  words,  it,  keeping  its 
back  against  the  wall,  moved  gently  along  towards  the  door.  I 
followed  it,  and  it,  going  out  at  the  door,  turned  its  back  to- 
ward me.  It  went  a  little  along  the  gallery.  I  followed  it  a 
little  into  the  gallery,  and  it  disappeared,  where  there  was  no 
corner  for  it  to  turn,  and  before  it  came  to  the  end  of  the  gal- 
lery, where  was  the  stairs.  Then  I  found  myself  very  cold  from 
my  feet  as  high  as  my  middle,  though  I  was  not  in  great  fear.  I 
went  into  the  bed  betwixt  the  tenant  and  his  man,  and  they 


66 


GHOSTS,  OR  APPABITIOm 


complained  of  my  being  exceeding  cold.    The  tenant's  man 

leaned  over  Lis  master  in  the  bed,  and  saw  me  stretch  out  my 
hand  towards  the  apparition,  and  heard  me  speak  the  words; 
the  tenant  also  heard  the  words.  The  apparition  seemed  to  have 
a  morning  gown  of  a  darkish  color,  no  hat  nor  cap,  short  black 
hair,  a  thin  meagre  vissage  of  a  pale  swartliy  color,  seemed  to 
be  of  about  forty-five  or  fifty  years  old;  the  eyes  half  shut,  the 
arms  hanging  down;  the  hands  visible  beneath  the  sleeve;  of  a 
middle  stature.  I  related  this  description  to  Mr.  John  Lardner, 
rector  of  Havant,  and  to  Major  Battin  of  Langstone,  in  Havant 
parish;  they  both  said  the  description  agreed  very  well  to  Mr. 
P.,  a  former  rector  of  the  place,  who  has  been  dead  above  twenty 
years.  Upon  this  the  tenant  and  his  wife  left  the  house,  which 
has  remained  void  since. 

The  Monday  after  last  Michaelmas-day,  a  man  of  Chodson, 
in  Warwickshire,  having  been  at  Havant  fair,  passed  by  the  fore- 
said parsonage-house  about  nine  or  ten  at  night,  and  saw  a  light 
in  most  of  the  rooms  of  the  house;  his  pathway  being  close  by 
the  house,  he,  wondering  at  the  light,  looked  into  the  kitchen 
window,  and  saw  only  a  light,  but  turning  himself  to  go  away, 
he  saw  the  appearance  of  a  man  in  a  long  gown;  he  made  haste 
away;  the  apparition  followed  him  over  a  piece  of  glebe  land  of 
several  acres,  to  a  lane,  which  he  crossed,  and  over  a  little 
meadov/,  then  over  another  lane  to  some  pales,  v.  hich  belong  to 
farmer  Henry  Salter,  my  landlord,  near  a  barn,  m  which  were 
some  of  the  farmer's  men  and  some  others.  This  man  went  into 
the  barn,  told  them  how  he  was  frighted  and  followed  fiom  the 
parsonage-house  by  an  apparition,  which  they  might  see  stand- 
ing against  the  pales,  if  they  went  out;  they  went  out,  and  saw 
it  scratch  against  the  pales,  and  make  a  hideous  noise;  it  stood 
there  some  time,  and  then  disapi^eared;  their  description  agreed 
with  what  I  saw.  This  last  account  I  had  from  the  man  himself, 
whom  it  followed,  and  also  from  the  farmer's  men. 

"  Tho.  Wilkixs,  Curate  of  W." 

"  Dec.  11,  1695,  Oxon."] 

The  learned  Selden  observes,  on  this  occasion,  that  there  was 
never  a  merry  world  since  the  fairies  left  dancing  and  the  par- 
eon  left  conjuring.    The  opinion  of  the  latter  kept  thieves  in 


GHOSTS  OR,  APPARiriOJVft. 


C7 


at^e,  and  did  as  mnch  good  in  a  country  as  a  justice  of  peace. 

Bournen  chap,  ii.,  lias  preserved  the  form  of  exorcising  a 
haunted  Louse,  a  truly  tedious  process,  for  the  expulsion  of 
demons,  who,  it  should  seem,  have  not  been  easily  ferreted  out 
of  their  quarters,  if  one  may  judge  of  their  unwillingness  to 
depart  by  the  prolixity  of  this  removal  warrant. 

One  smiles  at  Bourne's  zeal  in  honor  of  his  Protestant 
brethren,  at  the  end  of  his  tenth  chapter.  The  vulgar,  he 
says,  think  them  no  conjurors,  and  say  none  can  lay  spirits 
but  popish  priests:  he  wishes  to  undeceive  them,  however, 
and  to  prove  at  least  negatively  that  our  own  clergy  know  full 
as  much  of  the  black  art  as  the  othert?  do. 

St.  Chrysostom  is  said  to  have  insulted  some  African  con- 
jurors of  old  with  this  humiliating  and  singular  observation; 
"  Miserable  and  wofal  creatures  that  we  are,  we  cannot  so  much 
as  expel  fleas,  much  less  devils."  "  Obsession  of  the  devil  is 
distinguished  from  possession  in  this: — In  possession  the  evil 
one  was  said  to  enter  into  the  body  of  the  man.  In  obsession, 
without  entering  into  the  body  of  the  person,  he  was  thought  to 
besiege  and  torment  him  without.  To  be  lifted  up  ''nto  the  air, 
and  afterwards  to  be  thrown  down  on  the  ground  violently, 
without  receiving  any  hurt;  to  speak  strange  languages  that  the 
person  had  never  learned;  not  to  be  able  to  come  near  holy 
things  or  the  sacraments,  but  to  have  an  aversion  to  them;  to 
know  and  foretel  secret  things;  to  perform  things  that  exceed 
the  person's  strength;  to  say  or  do  things  that  the  person  would 
not  or  durst  not  say,  if  he  were  not  externally  moved  to  it;  were 
the  ancient  marks  and  criterions  of  possessions," 

In  the  Statistical  Account  of  Scotland,  xiii.  557,  parish  of 
Lochcarron,  county  of  Eoss,  we  read:  "There  is  one  opinion 
which  many  of  them  entertain,  and  which  indeed  is  not  pecu- 
liar to  this  parisli  alone,  that  a  popish  priest  can  cast  out  devils 
and  cure  madness,  and  that  the  Presbyterian  clergy  have  no 
such  power.  A  person  might  as  well  advise  a  mob  to  pay  no  at- 
t-ention  to  a  merry-andrew  as  to  desire  many  ignorant  people  to 
stay  from  the  (popish)  priest." 

Pliny  tells  us  that  houses  were  anciently  hallowed  against 
•vil  spirits  with  brimstone  !    This  charm  has  been  converted  by 

1 
1 
I 


58 


DIVINATION. 


later  times  into  what  our  satirist,  Churchill,  in  his  Prophecy  of 
Famine,  calls  "  a  precious  and  rare  medicine,"  and  is  now  used 
(but  I  suppose  with  greater  success)  in  exorcising  those  of  our 
unfortunate  fellow-creatures  who  fetl  themselves  possessed  with 
a  certain  teazing  fiery  spirit,  said  by  the  wits  of  the  south  to  be 
well  known,  seen,  and  felt,  and^very  troublesome  in  the  north. 


DIVINATION. 


Divinations  differ  from  omens  in  this,  that  the  omen  is  an 
indication  of  something  that  is  to  come  to  pass,  which  happens 
to  a  person,  as  it  were  by  accident,  without  his  seeking  for  it; 
whereas  divination  is  the  obtaining  of  a  knowledge  of  something 
future,  by  some  endeavor  of  his  own,  or  means  which  he  him- 
self designedly  makes  use  of  for  that  end. 

Gaule,  in  his  Mag-astromancers  Posed  aud  Puzzel'd,  p.  165, 
enumerates  as  follows  the  several  species  of  divination:  "  Slwe- 
omancy,  or  divining  by  the  elements;  Aeromancy,  or  divining  by 
the  ayr;  Pyromancy,  by  fire;  Hydromancy,  by  water;  Geomancy, 
by  earth;  Iheomuncy,  pretending  to  divine  by  the  revelation  of 
the  Spirit,  and  by  the  Scriptures,  or  word  of  God;  Dcemonom- 
ancy,  by  the  suggestions  of  evill  daemons  or  devils;  Idolomancy, 
by  idolls,  images,  figures;  Psyehomancy,  by  men's  souls,  affect- 
ions, wills,  religious  or  morall  dispositions;  Aniinopomancy,  by 
the  entrails  of  men,  women,  and  children;  Iheriomancy,  by 
beasts;  Orniihomancy,  by  birds;  Ichihyomancy,  by  fishes;  Boiano- 
mancy,  by  herbs;  Lithomancy,  by  stones;  Cieromancy,  by  lotts; 
Oniromancy,  by  dreams;  Onomalomancy,  by  names;  Arilhmancy, 
by  numbers:  iograri^/iTnancj/,  by  logarithm es;  Sternoinancy,  from 
the  breast  to  the  belly;  Gasirotnancy,  by  the  soiind  of,  or  signes 
upon  the  belly;  Omphelomancy,  by  the  navel;  Chiromancy,  by  the 
hands;  Pcedomxincy,  by  the  feet;  Onychomancy,  by  the  nayles; 
Cephaleonomancy,  by  bray  ling  of  an  asses  head;  Tuphramancy,  by 
ashes;  Capnomancy,  bv  smoak;  Livanomancy,  by  burning  of 
frankincense:  Carramancy,  by  melting  of  wax;  Lecanomancy,  by 


Divimm  ROD. 


69 


a  basin  of  water;  Caioxtromancy,  by  looking-glasses;  Chartomancy, 
by  writing  in  papers  (this  is  retained  in  «3hoosing  Valentines, 
&c.);  Macharomancy,  by  knives  or  swords;  Chrysiulloinancy,  by 
glasses ;  Dadalomancy,  by  rings ;  Coseinomancy,  by  sieves ;  Axino- 
mancy,  by  sawes;  Caitabomancy,  by  vessels '  of  brasse  or  other 
metall;  Roadomancy,  by  starres;  Spaialamancy,  by  skins,  bones, 
excrements;  Scyomancy,  by  shadows;  Astragalomancy,  by  dice; 
Oinomancy,  by  wine;  Sycomancy,  by  figgs;  Typomancy,  by  the 
coagulation  of  cheese;  Alphitomancy,  by  meal,  flower,  or  branne; 
Crithornancy,  by  grain  or  corn;  Aleciromancy,  by  cocks  or  pullen; 
Gyroinancy,  by  rounds  or  circles;  Lampadomancy,  by  candles  and 
lamps;  and  in  one  word  for  all,  Nagomancy,  or  Necromancy,  by 
inspecting,  consulting,  and  divining  by,  with,  or  from  the  dead.*' 
In  Holiday's  Marriage  of  the  Arts,  4to.,  is  introduced  a  species 
of  divination  not  in  the  above  ample  list  of  them,  entitled  An- 
ihropomancie. 


DIVINING  ROD. 

Divination  by  the  rod  or  wand  is  mentioned  in  the  prophecy 
of  Ezekiel.  Hosea,  too,  reproaches  the  Jews  as  bting  infected 
with  the  like  superstition:  "  My  people  ask  counsel  at  their 
stocks,  and  iheir  siq^  declareth  unto  them,"  Chap.  iv.  12.  Not 
only  the  Chaldeans  used  rods  for  divination,  but  almost  every 
nation  which  has  pretended  to  that  science  has  practised  the 
same  method.  Herodotus  mentions  it  as  a  custom  of  the  Alani, 
and  Tacitus  of  the  old  Germans. 

[The  earliest  means  made  use  of  by  the  miners  for  the  dis- 
covery of  the  lode  was  the  divining  rod,  so  late  as  three  years  ago 
the  process  has  been  tried.  The  method  of  procedure  was  to 
cut  the  twig  of  an  hazel  or  apple  tree,  of  twelve  months'  growth, 
into  a  forked  shape,  and  to  hold  this  by  both  hands  in  a  pecu- 
liar way,  walking  across  the  land  until  the  twig  bent,  which  was 
taken  as  an  indication  of  the  locality  of  a  lode.  The  person 
who  generally  practices  this  divination  boasts  himself  to  be  the 
seventh  son  of  a  seventh  son.    The  twig  of  hazel  bends  in  his 


60 


DIVIDING  EOD. 


hands  to  the  conTiction  of  the  miners  that  ore  is  present;  but 
then  the  peculiar  manner  in  which  the  twig  is  held,  bringing 
muscular  action  to  baar  upon  it,  accounts  for  its  gradual  de- 
flection, and  the  circumUaaco  of  the  strata  walked  over  always 
containing  ore  gives  a  farther  credit  to  the  process  of  divina- 
tion. ] 

The  vulgar  notion,  still  prevalent  in  the  north  of  England,  ol 
the  hazel's  tendency  to  a  vein  of  lead  ore,  seam  or  stratum  of 
coal,  &c.,  seems  to  be  a  vestige  of  this  rod  divination. 

The  virgula  divina,  or  baculus  divinatorius,  is  a  forked 
branch  in  the  form  of  a  Y,  cut  oH  an  hazel  stick,  by  means 
whereof  people  have  pretended  to  discover  mines,  springs, 
&c.,  underground.  The  method  of  using  it  is  this:  the  person 
who  bears  it,  walking  very  slowly  over  the  places  where  he 
suspects  mines  or  springs  may  be,  the  effluvia  exhaling  from 
the  metals,  or  vapor  from  the  water  impregnating  the  wood, 
makes  it  dip,  or  incline,  which  is  the  sign  of  a  discovery. 

In  the  Living  Library,  or  Ilistoricall  jJeditations,  fol.  1621,  p. 
283,  we  read:  "  No  man  can  tell  why  forked  sticks  of  hazill 
(rather  than  sticks  uf  other  trees  growing  upon  the  very  same 
places)  are  fit  to  shev/  the  places  vvhere  the  vtines  of  gold  and 
silver  are.  The  sticke  bending  itselfe  in  the  places,  at  the  bot- 
tome  where  the  same  veines  are."  See  Lilly's  Historj^  of  his  Life 
and  Times,  p.  32,  for  a  curious  esperiuient  (which  he  confesses, 
however,  to  have  failed)  to  discover  hidden  treasure  by  the 
hazel  rod. 

In  the  Gent.  Mag.  for  February  1752,  xxii.  77,  we  read  :  *•  M. 
Linnaeus,  when  he  was  upon  his  voyage  to  Scania,  hearing  his 
secretary  highly  extol  the  virtues  of  his  divining  wand,  was  wil- 
ling to  convince  Inm  of  its  insufficiency,  and  for  that  purpose 
concealed  a  purse  of  one  hundred  ducats  under  a  ranunculus, 
which  grew  by  itself  in  a  meadow,  and  bid  the  secretary  Imd  it 
if  he  could.  The  wand  discovered  nothing,  and  M.  Linnseus's 
mark  was  soon  trampled  down  by  the  company  who  were 
present;  so  that  when  M.  Liunaus  went  to  finish  the  experi- 
ment by  fetching  the  gold  himself,  he  was  utterly  at  a  loss  where 
to  seek  it.  The  man  with  the  wand  assisted  him,  and  pro- 
nounced that  he  could  not  lie  the  way  they  were  going,  but  <juito 


DIVINATION  BY  LOTS, 


61 


the  contrary:  so  pursued  the  direction  of  his  wand,  and  actually 
dug  out  the  gold.  M.  Linnaeus  adds,  that  such  another  experi- 
ment would  be  sufficient  to  make  a  proselyte  of  him."  "We  read; 
in  the  same  work  for  Nov.  1751,  xxi.  507:  "  So  early  as  Agriccla 
the  divining  rod  was  in  much  request,  and  has  obtained  great 
credit  for  its  discovery  where  to  dig  for  metals  and  springs  of 
water:  for  some  years  past  its  reputation  has  been  on  the  decline, 
but  lately  it  has  been  revived  with  great  success  by  an  ingenious 
gentleman,  who,  from  numerous  experiments,  hath  good  reason 
to  believe  its  effects  to  be  more  than  imagination.  He  says,  that 
hazel  and  willow  rods,  he  has  by  experience  found,  will  actual- 
ly answer  with  all  persons  in  a  good  state  of  health,  if  they  are 
used  with  moderation  and  at  some  distance  of  time,  and  after 
meals,  when  the  operator  is  in  good  spirits.  The  hazel,  willow, 
and  elm,  are  all  attracted  by  springs  of  water;  some  persons 
have  the  virtue  intermittently;  the  rod,  in  their  hands,  will  at- 
tract one  half-hour,  and  repel  the  next.  The  rod  is  attracted 
by  all  metals,  coals,  amber,  and  lime-stone,  but  with  different 
degrees  of  strengtli.  The  best  rods  are  those  from  the  hazel,  or 
nut  tree,  as  they  are  pliant  and  tough,  and  cut  in  the  winter 
months.  A  shoot  that  terminates  equally  forljied  is  to  be  met 
with,  two  single  ones,  of  a  length  and  size,  may  be  tied  to- 
gether with  a  thread,  and  will  answer  as  well  as  the  other." 

In  the  Supplement  to  the  Athenian  Oracle,  p.  234,  v/o  read, 
that  the  experiment  of  a  hazel's  tendency  to  a  vein  of  lead  ore 
is  limited  to  St.  John  Baptist's  Eve,  and  that  with  an  hazel  of 
that  same  year's  growth." 


DIVINATION  BY  VIRGILIAN,  HOMERIC,  OR 
BIBLE  LOTS. 

This  is  a  species  of  divination  performed  by  opening  tho 
works  of  Virgil,  &c.,  and  remarking  the  lines  which  shall  be 
covered  with  your  thumb  the  instant  the  leaves  are  opened;  by 
which,  if  they  can  be  interpreted  in  any  respect  to  relate  to  you, 
they  are  accounted  prophetic.    This  custom  appears  to  have 


62 


DIVINATION  BY  LOTS. 


been  of  very  ancient  date,  and  was  tried  with  Homer's  poem  as 
well  as  Virgil's.  They  who  applied  to  this  kind  of  oracle  were 
said  to  try  the  sortes  Ilomericce,  or  sories  Virgiliance. 

King  Charles  the  First  is  said  to  have  tried  this  method  of 
learning  his  fate,  and  to  have  found  the  oracle  but  too  certain. 

Dr.  Johnson,  in  his  Life  of  Cowley,  suspects  that  great  poet 
to  have  been  tinctured  with  this  superstition,  and  to  have  con- 
sulted the  Virgilian  lots  on  the  great  occasion  of  the  Scottish 
treaty,  and  that  he  gave  credit  to  the  answer  of  the  oracle. 

Dr.  Ferrand,  in  his  Love  Melancholy,  1610,  p.  177,  mentions 
the  "  kinde  of  divination  by  (he  opening  of  a  hooke  at  all  adventures; 
and  this  was  called  the  Vale)dmian  chance,  and  by  some  sories 
Virgiliance;  of  which  the  Emperor  Adrian  was  wont  to  make 
very  much  use."  He  adds,  "  I  shall  omit  to  speak  here  of  as- 
tragalomancy,  that  wae  done  with  huckle  bones;  ceromancy,  and 
all  other  such  like  fooleries." 

Dr.  Nathaniel  Home,  in  his  Daemonologie,  ]650,  p.  81,  says: 
"For  sorcery,  properly  so  called,  viz.  divination  by  lotts,  it  is 
too  much  apparent  how  it  abounds.  For  lusory  lots,  the  state 
groans  under  the  losse  by  them,  to  the  ruine  of  many  men  and 
families;  as  the  churches  lament  under  the  sins  by  them  ;  and 
for  other  lots,  by  sieves,  books,  &c.,  they  abound  as  witchery, 
&o.,  abounds." 

The  superstitious  among  the  ancient  Christians  practiced  a 
similar  kind  of  divination  by  opening  the  Old  and  Neio  Testamoif. 
See  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall,  vi.  333.  He  is  speaking  of 
Clovis,  A.  D.  507,  who,  marching  from  Paris,  as  he  proceeded 
with  decent  reverence  through  the  holy  diocese  of  Tours,  con- 
sulted the  shrine  of  St.  Martin, '  the  sanctuary  and  oracle  of 
Gaul.  His  messengers  were  instructed  to  remark  the  words  of 
'the  psalm  which  should  happen  to  be  chanted  at  the  precise 
moment  when  they  entered  the  church.  These  words  most 
fortunately  expressed  the  valor  and  victory  of  the  champions  of 
heaven,  and  the  application  was  easily  transferred  to  the  new- 
Joshua,  the  new  Gideon,  who  went  foiih  to  battle  against  the 
enemies  of  the  Lord.  He  adds:  "  This  mode  of  divination,  by 
accepting  as  an  omen  the  first  sacred  words  which  in  particular 
circumstances  should  be  presented  to  the  eye  or  ear,  was  derived 


DIVINATION  BY  THE  BLADE-BONE,  63 


from  the  Pagans,  and  the  Psalter  or  Bible  was  substituted  to  the 
poems  of  Homer  and  Virgil.  From  the  fourth  to  the  fourteenth 
century,  these  sories  sanciorum,  as  they  are  styled,  were  repeat- 
edly condemned  by  the  decrees  of  councils,  and  repeatedly 
practised  by  kings,  bishops,  and  saints. 


DIVINATION  BY  THE  SPEAL,  OE  BLADE-BONE. 

Mr.  Pennant  gives  an  account  of  another  sort  of  divination 
used  in  Scotland,  called  sleina-nachd,  or  reading  ihe  speal  bone,  or 
the  hlade-hone  of  a  shoulder  of  mutton,  well  scraped.  (Mr.  Shaw' 
says  picked;  no  iron  must  touch  it.")  See  Tacitus's  Annals,  xiv. 
When  Lord  Loudon,  he  says,  was  obliged  to  retreat  before  the 
rebels  to  the  isle  of  Skie,  a  common  soldier,  on  the  very  moment 
the  battle  of  Culloden  was  decided,  proclaimed  the  victory  at 
that  distance,  pretending  to  have  discovered  the  event  by  look- 
ing through  the  bone. 

Selden  tells  us:  "  Under  Henry  the  Second,  one  "William 
Mangunel,  a  gentleman  of  those  parts,  finding  by  his  skill  of 
prediction  that  his  wife  had  played  false  with  him,  and  con- 
ceived by  his  own  newphew,  formally  dresses  the  shoulder-bone 
of  one  of  his  own  rammes,  and  sitting  at  dinner  (pretending  it 
to  be  taken  out  of  his  neighbor's  flocke)  requests  his  wife 
(equalliag  him  in  these  divinations)  to  give  her  judgment.  She 
ciiriously  observes,  and  at  last  with  great  laughter  casts  it  from 
her.  The  gentleman  importuning  her  reason  of  so  vehement  an 
affection,  receives  answer  of  her,  that  his  wife,  out  of  whose 
flocke  that  ramme  was  taken,  had  by  incestuous  copulation  with 
her  husband's  nephew  fraughted  herself  with  a  young  one.  Lay 
all  together  and  judge,  gentlewomen,  the  sequell  of  this  crosse 
accident.  But  why  she  could  not  as  well  divine  of  whose  flocke 
it  was,  as  the  other  secret,  when  I  have  more  skill  in  osteoman- 
ite,  I  will  tell  you."  He  refers  to  Girald.  Itin.  i.  cap.  11.  Han- 
way,  in  his  Travels  into  Persia,  vol.  1.  p.  177,  tells  us,  that  in 
that  country  too  they  have  a  kind  of  divination  by  the  bone  of 
a  sheep. 


64 


DIVINATION  BY  TEE  EEECTING  OF  FIGUEES 
ASTPtOLOGICAL. 

In  Lill3''s  History  of  Lis  Life  unci  Times,  there  is  a  curious 
experiment  of  tbis  sort  made,  it  should  seem,  by  the  desire  of 
Charles  the  First,  to  know  in  what  quarter  of  the  nation  he 
mi«<ht  be  most  safe,  after  he  should  have  effected  his  escape,  and 
not  be  di£covered  until  himself  pleased.  Madame  "Whorewood 
was  deputed  to  receive  Lilly's  jiulgment.  Ee  seems  to  have 
had  high  fees,  for  he  owns  he  got  on  this  occasion  twenty 
pieces  of  gold. 

By  the  Nauticum  Astrologicum,  directing  Merchants,  Ma- 
riners, Captains  of  Ships,  Ensurers,  &c.  how  (by  God's  bless- 
ing) they  may  escape  divers  dangers  which  commonly  happen 
in  the  Ocean,  the  posthumous  work  of  John  Gadbury,  1710,  it 
appears  that  figures  were  often  erected  concerning  the  voyages 
of  ships  from  London  to  Newcastle,  &c.  In  p.  123,  the  predic- 
tor tells  us  his  ansM^er  was  verified;  the  ship,  though  not  lost, 
had  been  in  great  danger  thereof,  having  unhappily  run  aground 
at  Newcastle,  sprung  a  shroud,  and  whollj'  lost  her  keek  At  p. 
93,  there  is  a  figure  given  of  a  ship  that  set  sail  from  London 
towards  Newcastle,  Aug.  27,  11  p.  m.  1G69.  This  proved  a  for- 
tunate voyage.  "As,  indeed,"  saith  our  author,  "under  so 
auspicious,  a  position  of  heaven  it  had  been  strange  if  she  had 
missed  so  to  have  done;  for  herein  you  see  Jupiter  in  the  as- 
cendant in  sextile  aspect  of  the  sun;  and  the  moon,  who  is  lady 
of  the  horoscope,  and  governess  of  the  hour  in  which  she  weighed 
anchor,  is  applying  ad  triuum  Veneris.  She  returned  to  Lon- 
don again  very  well  laden,  in  three  weeks'  time,  to  the  great 
content  as  well  as  advantage  of  the  owner." 

Henry,  is  his  History  of  Great  Britain,  iii.  575,  speaking  of 
astrology,  tells  us:  "  Nor  did  this  passion  for  penetrating  into 
futurity  prevail  only  among  the  common  people,  but  also  among 
persons  of  the  highest  ranke  and  greatest  learning.  All  our 
kings,  and  many  of  our  earls  and  great  barons,  had  their  astrol- 
ogers, who  resided  in  their  families,  and  were  consulted  by 
them  in  all  undertakings  of  great  importance."  The  great  man, 
ha  observes,  ibid.  chap.  iv.  p.  4.03,  kept  these  "  to  cast  the  hor- 


DIVISA TlOy  BY  FIG URES  ASTROLOGICAL.  65 


oscopes  of  his  cliil  Jren,  discover  the  success  of  his  designs,  and 
the  public  events  that  were  to  happen.  "  Their  predictions," 
he  adis,  *'  were  couched  in  very  general  and  artful  terms."  In 
another  part  of  his  history,  however,  Dr.  Henry  sajs:  '*  Astrol- 
ogy, though  ridiculous  and  delusive  in  itself,  hath  been  the  best 
friend  of  the  excellent  and  useful  science  of  astronomy." 

Zouch,  in  his  edition  of  Walton's  Livos,  179G,  p.  131,  note, 
says,  mentioning  Queen  Mary's  reign:  "Judicial  astrology  was 
much  in  use  long  after  this  time.  Its  predictions  were  received 
with  reverential  awe;  and  men  even  of  the  most  enlightened 
understandings  were  inclined  to  believe  that  the  conjunctions 
and  oppositions  of  the  planets  had  no  little  influence  in  the  af- 
fairs of  the  world.  Even  the  excellent  Joseph  Mede  disdained 
not  to  apply  himself  to  the  study  of  astrology."  Astrology  is 
ridiculed  in  a  masterly  manner  in  Shakespeare's  King  Lear,  act 
i.  sc.  8. 

Mason,  in  his  Anatomie  of  Sorcerie,  4to.  Lond.  1612,  p.  91, 
mentions  in  his  list  of  the"  prevailing  superstitions,  "  erecting 
of  a  figure  to  tell  of  stolne  goods. "  In  the  Dialogue  of  Dives  and 
Pauper,  printed  by  Pynson,  a.  d.  1493,  among  superstitious 
prac:ises  then  in  use  and  censured,  we  meet  with  the  following: 
"  Or  take  hede  to  the  judicial  of  astronomy-  -or  dyvyne  a  mans 
lyf  or  deth  by  nombres  and  by  th«  spere  of  Pyctagorus,  or  make 
any  dy vj^ning  therbj'',  or  by  songuary  or  sompnarye,  the  boke 
of  remes,  or  by  the  boko  that  is  clepid  the  Apostles  lottis." 
The  severe  author  adds:  "And  alio  that  use  any  maner  of 
wichecraft  or  any  misbileve,  that  alio  suche  forsaken  the  feyth 
of  holy  churche  and  their  Cristendome,  and  bicome  Goddes 
cnmyes,  and  greve  God  fall  grevously,  and  falle  into  dampna- 
cioa  withontea  ondc,  but  they  amende  thoym  the  soner." 

Lodge,  in  his  Incarnate  Devils,  150G,  p.  12,  thus  glances  at  the 
superstitious  follower  of  ths  pl.met.iry  houses:  "And  he  ij  so 
busie  in  finding  out  tlio  houses  of  tlie  planets,  that  at  last  ho  is 
cither  f.iine  to  house  himselfo  in  an  liospitall,  or  take  up  hi? 
inn3  in  a  prison."  At  p.  11  also,  is  the  following:  "His  name 
i3  Curiositie,  who  not  content  with  the  studies  of  jirofite  and 
the  practise  of  commendable  sciences,  setteth  his  mind  wholia 
on  astrologie,  negromancie,  and  magicke.     This  divel  prefers 


ONYCEOMANCY  OR  OmTMANCY. 


an  Epliimericles  before  a  Bible;  and  his  Ptolemey  and  Hali  be- 
fore Ambrose,  golden  Chrisostome,  or  S.  Augustine:  promise 
him  a  familiar,  and  he  will  take  a  flie  in  a  box  for  good  paiment 

 He  will  show  you  the  devill  in  a  christal,  calculate  the  na- 

tivitie  of  his  gelding,  tallce  of  nothing  but  gold  and  silver,  elix- 
ir, calcination,  augmentation,  citrination,  commentation;  and 
swearing  to  enrich  the  world  in  a  month,  he  is  not  able  to  buy 
himself  a  new  cloake  in  a  whole  year.  Such  a  divell  I  tnewe  in 
my  daies,  that  having  sold  all  his  land  in  England  to  the  bene- 
fite  of  the  coosener,  went  to  Andwerpe  with  protestation  to  en- 
rich Monsieur  the  king's  brother  of  France,  le  fau  Eoy  Harie  I 
meane;  and  missing  his  purpose,  died  miserably  in  spight  at 
Hermes  in  Flushing."  Ibid.  p.  9o,  speaking  of  desperation, 
Lodge  says:  "  Ho  persuades  the  merchant  not  to  traffique,  be- 
cause it  is  given  him  in  his  nativity  to  have  lossa  by  sea;  and 
not  to  lend,  least  he  never  receive  again." 


ONYCHOMANCY,  OB  ONYMANOY, 

DIVINATION  BY  TKE  FINGEK-NAILS. 

Thekb  was  anciently  a  species  of  divination  called  onycho- 
mancy,  or  onj-mancy,  performed  by  the  nails  of  an  unpolluted 
boy.  Vestiges  of  this  are  still  retained.  Sir  Thomas  Browne, 
as  has  been  already  noticed,  admits  that  conjectures  of  preva- 
lent humors  may  be  collected  from  the  spots  in  our  nails,  but 
rejects  the  sundry  divinations  vulgarly  raised  upon  them  ;  such 
as  that  spots  on  the  top  of  the  nails  signify  things  past,  in  the 
middle  things  present,  and,  at  the  bottom,  events  to  come. 
That  white  specks  presage  our  felicity,  blue  ones  our  misfor- 
tunes ;  that  those  in  the  nail  of  the  thumb  have  significations 
of  honor  ;  of  the  forefinger,  riches. 


DIVINATION  BY  SIEVE  AND  SHEARS. 

"This,"  says  Potter,  in  liis  Greek  Antiquities,  i.  332,  was  gen- 
erally practiced  to  discover  thieves,  or  others  suspected  of  any 
crime,  in  this  manner  ;  they  tied  a  thread  to  the  sieve,  by  which 
it  was  upheld,  or  else  placed  a  pair  of  shears,  which  they  held 
up  by  two  fingers;  then  prayed  to  the  gods  to  direct  and  assist 
them;  after  that  thej'  repeated  the  names  of  the  persons  under 
suspicion,  and  he,  at  whose  name  the  sieve  whirled  round,  or 
moved,  was  thought  to  have  committed  the  fact. 

In  the  directions  for  performing  divination  by  "  coscinomancie, 
or  turning  of  a  sieve,"  introduced  in  ITolidny's  Marriage  of  the 
Arts,  4to.,  the  shears  are  to  be  fastened,  and  the  side  held  iip 
with  the  middle  finger,  then  a  mystical  form  of  word  ?  said, 
then  name  those  that  are  suspected  to  have  been  the  thieves, 
and  at  whoso  name  the  sieve  turns,  ho  or  she  is  guilty.  This 
mode  of  divination  is  mentioned  there  also  as  being  more  gen- 
eral, and  practiced  to  tell  who  or  who  shall  get  such  a  person 
for  their  spouse  or  husband.  Mason,  in  tlie  Anatomic  of  Sor- 
cerii,  1612,  p.  91,  enumerates,  among  the  then  prevailing  super- 
stitions, "Turning  of  o. sieve  to  show  who  had  hewilched  one." 

Melton,  in  his  Astrologaster,  p.  43,  gives  a  catalogue  of  many 
superstitious  ceremonies,  in  the  first  whereof  this  occurs: 
"That  if  anything  be  lost  amongst  a  company  of  servants,  with 
the  trick  of  the  sivo  and  sheers,  it  may  bo  found  out  againe, 
and  who  stole  it."  Grose  tells  us  that,  to  discover  a  thief  by 
the  sieve  and  shears,  j^ou  must  stick  the  point  of  the  shears  in 
the  wood  of  the  sieve,  and  let  two  persons  support  it,  balanced 
upright,  with  their  two  fingers;  then  read  a  certain  chapter  in 
the  Bible,  and  afterwards  ask  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  if  A  or  C  is 
the  thief,  naming  all  the  persons  you  suspect.  On  naming  the 
real  thisf,  the  sieve  will  turn  suddenly  round  about. 

Eeginald  Scot,  in  his  Discovery,  p.  283,  tells  us  that  "Popish 
priests,  as  the  Chaldeans  used  the  divination  by  sieve  and 
sheers  for  the  detection  of  theft,  do  practice  with  a  psalter  and 
key  fastened  upon  the  forty-ninth  psalm,  to  discover  a  thief, 
and  when  the  names  of  the  suspected  persons  are  orderly  put 
into  the  pipe  of  the  key,  at  the  reading  of  these  words  of  the 


63        DIVJXATIOKS  BY  OXIOXS  AXD  FAGGOTS. 


psalm,  '  If  tliou  sawest  a  tliief  thou  didst  consent  unto  him,*  tlio 
book  will  wagg  and  fall  out  of  tlie  fingers  of  them  that  hold  it, 
and  he  whose  name  remaineth  in  the  key  must  be  the  thief."  I 
must  here  observe  that  Scot  has  mistaken  the  psalm  ;  it  isthd 
fiftieth,  and  not  the  forty-ninth,  in  which  the  passage  which  he 
hr8  cited  is  found. 

In  the  Athenian  Oracle,  i.  425,  divination  hy  a  Bible  and  key  is 
thus  described  :  "A  Bible  having  a  key  fastened  in  the  middle, 
and  being  held  between  the  two  forefingers  of  two  persons,  will 
turn  round  after  some  w'ords  said:  as,  if  one  desires  to  find  out 
a  thief,  a  certain  verse  taken  out  of  a  psalm  is  to  be  repeated, 
and  those  who  are  suspected  nominated,  and  if  they  are  guilty, 
the  book  and  key  will  turn,  else  not." 


DIVINATIONS  BY  ONIONS  AND  FAGGOTS  IN  ADVENT. 

BuETON,  in  his  Anatomy  of  Melancholy,  ed.  16G0,  p.  538, 
speaks  of  "cromnysmantia,"  a  kind  of  divination  wdth  onions 
laid  on  the  altar  at  Christmas  Eve,  practiced  by  girls,  to  know 
when  they  shall  be  married,  and  how  many  husbands  they 
shall  have.  This  appears  also  to  have  been  a  German  custom. 
"We  have  the  following  notice  of  it  in  Barnabe  Googe's  translation 
of  Naogeorgus's  Popish  Kingdome,  f.  44  : 

'*  In  these  same  dayes  young  wanton  gyrles,  that  meete  for  mar- 
riage be, 

Doe  search  to  know  the  names  of  them  that  shall  their  hus- 
bands bee. 

Four  onyons,  five,  or  eight,  they  take,  and  make  in  every  one 
Such  names  as  they  do  fancie  most,  and  best  to  think  upon. 
Thus  neere  the  chimney  them  they  set,  and  that  same  onyon 
then 

That  firste  doth  sproute,  doth  surely  beare  the  name  of  their 
good  man. 

Their  husbande's  nature  eke  they  seeke  to  know,  and  all  his 
guise, 

TVhenas  the  sunne  hath,  -hid  himselfe,  and  left  the  starrie 
skies, 


DIVIKATIOXS  BY  A  QBEEN  IVIE  LEAF.  69 


Unto  some  wood-stacke  do  they  go,  and  wliile  they  there  do 

stande, 

Eche  one  drawes  out  a  faggot-stiche,  the  next  that  comes  to 
hande, 

Which  if  it  streiglit  and  even  be,  and  have  no  knots  at  all, 
A  gentle  husband  then  they  thinke  shall  surely  to  them  falL 
liut  if  it  fowle  iind  crooked  be,  and  knottie  here  and  theare, 
A  crabbed,  churlish  husband  then  they  earnestly  do  feare. 
These  things  the  wicked  Papists  beare,"  &c. 


DIVINATIONS  BY  A  GEEEN  IVIE  LEAP. 

LuPTON,  in  his  Tenth  Book  of  Notable  Things,  1660,  p.  300, 
No.  87,  says  :  Lay  a  green  ivie-leaf  in  a  dish,  or  other  vessel  of 
fair  water,  either  for  yourselfe  or  any  other,  on  New-year's  even, 
at  night,  and  cover  the  water  in  the  said  vessel,  and  set  it  in  a 
sure  or  safe  place,  until  Twelfe-even  nexte  after  (which  will  be 
the  5th  day  of  January),  and  then  take  the  said  ivie-leafe  out  of 
the  said  water,  and  mark  well  if  the  said  leafe  be  fair  and  green 
as  it  was  before,  for  then  you,  or  the  party  for  whom  you  lay  it 
into  the  water,  will  be  whole  and  sound,  and  safe  from  anysick- 
nesse  all  the  next  yeare  following.  But  if  you  find  any  black 
spots  thereon,  then  you,  or  the  parties  for  whome  you  laid  it 
into  the  water,  will  be  sicke  the  same  year  following.  And  if 
the  spots  be  on  the  upper  part  of  the  leafo  towards  the  stalke, 
then  the  sicknesse  or  paine  will  be  in  the  head,  or  in  the  neck, 
or  thereabout.  And  if  it  be  spotted  nigh  the  midst  of  the  leafe 
then  the -sicknesse  will  be  about  the  stomach  or  heart.  And 
likewise  judge  that  the  disease  or  grief  will  be  in  that  part  of  the 
body  according  as  you  see  the  black  spots  under  the  same  in  the 
leafe,  accounting  the  spots  in  the  nether  or  sharp  end  of  the 
leafe  to  signifie  the  jmines  or  diseases  in  the  feet.  And  if  the 
leafe  be  spotted  all  over,  then  it  signifies  that  you,  or  the  par- 
ties, shall  die  that  yeare  following.  You  may  prove  this  for 
many  or  few,  at  one  time,  by  putting  them  in  water,  for  everie 
one  a  leaf  of  green  ivie  (so  that  every  leafe  be  dated  or  marked 
to  whom  it  doth  belong).  This  was  credibly  told  mo  to  be  very 
certain." 


70 


DIVINATION  BY  IXOTVEBa 

In  a  most  rare  tract  in  my  possession,  dated  April  23d,  1591, 
entitled  the  Shepherd's  Starre,  by  Thomas  Bradshaw,  we  find  a 
paraphrase  upon  the  third  of  the  Canticles  of  Theocritus,  dia- 
loguewise.  Amaryllis,  Corydon,  Tityrus.  Corydon  says: 
••There  is  a  cnstomo  amongst  ns  swaynes  in  Crotona,  (an  aun- 
cient  tov.ne  in  Italy,  on  that  side  w  here  Sicilia  bordereth),  to 
elect  by  our  divination  lordes  and  ladies,  with  the  leaf  of  the 
flower  Telej)hilon,  which  being  laide  before  the  tier  leapeth  unto 
them  whom  it  loveth,  and  skippeth  from  them  whom  it  hateth. 
Tityrus  and  I,  in  experience  of  our  lott,  whose  happe  it  should 
be  to  injoye  your  love,  insteade  of  Telephilon  we  burned  mis- 
tletoe and  boxe  for  our  divination,  and  unto  me,  Amaryllis,  you 
fled,  and  chose  rather  to  turne  to  an  unworthy  shepherd  than  to 
burn  like  an  unworthy  lover."  Signat.  G.  2.  "Lately  I  asked 
counsell  of  Agrgso,  a  prophetesse,  how  to  know  Amaryllis  should 
ever  love  mee:  she  taught  mee  to  take  Telephilon,  a  kinde  of 
leafe  that  pepper  beareth,  so  called  of  Delej  hilon,  because  it 
foresheweth  love,  and  to  clap  Ihe  leaves  in  the  palmo  of  my 
hand.  If  they  yeelded  a  great  sound,  then  surely  shee  should 
love  me  great!  j ;  if  a  little  sound,  then  little  love.  But  either  I 
was  deafe,  being  senceles  through  love,  or  else  no  sound  at  all  was 
heard,  and  so  Agrseo  the  divinatrix  tolde  me  a  true  rule.  Now 
I  preferre  my  garlande  made  in  sorrowful  hast,  of  which  the 
flowers,  some  signifying  death  and  some  mourning,  but  none 
belonging  to  marriage,  do  manifest  that  Amaryllis  hath  no  re- 
spect of  meane  men."  He  had  before  said  "I  will  go  gather  a 
coronet,  and  will  waave  and  infolde  it  with  the  knottes  of  truest 
love,  with  greene  laurell,  Apollo's  scepter,  which  shall  betoken 
her  wisdom,  and  with  the  myrtle,  fare  Venus  poesie,  which 
shall  shewe  her  beautie.  And  with  amaranthus,  Diana's  herbe, 
whereby  bloud  is  stenched,  so  may  shee  imitate  the  herbe,  and 
have  remorse." 


71 


THE  ART  OF  MIND  READING. 

We  are  indebted  to  that  valuable  and  interesting  magazine 
tlie  "  Popular  SScieuce  Mouthly,"  lor  the  following  explanation 
of  the  i)henouienon  of  mind  reading.  It  wan  writtsn  by  a 
phyfiieiiin  of  high  standing  (George  M.  Beard,  M.  D.)  who  has 
given  much  attention  to  this  and  kindred  subjects. 

In  the  history  of  science  and  notably  in  the  history  of  i^hysiology 
and  medicine,  it  has  often  happened  that  the  ignorant  and  ob- 
scure have  stumbled  upon  facts  and  phenomena  which,  though 
wrongly  interpreted  by  themselves,  yet,  when  investigated  and 
explained,  have  proved  to  be  of  the  highest  interest.  The  phen- 
omena of  the  emotional  trance,  for  example,  had  been  known  for 
ages,  but  not  until  Mesmer  forced  them  on  the  scientific  world, 
by  his  public  exhibitions  and  his  ill-founded  theory  of  animal 
magnetism,  did  they  receive  any  serious  and  intelligent  study. 
Similarly  the  general  fact  that  mind  may  so  act  on  body  as  to 
produce  involuntary  and  unconscious  muscular  motion  was  by 
no  means  unrecognized  by  physiologists,  and  yet  not  until  the 
•*  mind-reading  "  excitement  two  years  ago  was  it  demonstrated 
that  this  principle  could  be  utilized  for  the  finding  of  any  object 
or  limited  locality  on  which  a  subject,  with  whom  an  operator  is 
in  physical  connection,  concentrates  his  mind. 

Although,  as  I  have  since  ascertained,  experiments  of  this  kind 
had  been  previously  pe.-formed  in  a  quiet,  limited  way  in  private 
circles,  and  mostly  by  ladies,  yet  very  few  had  heard  of  cr  wit- 
nessed them;  they  were  associated  in  the  popular  mind  very 
naturally  with  "  mesmerism  "  ot  "animd  magnetism,"  and  by 
some  were  called  "  mesmeric  games,"  The  physiological  ex- 
planation had  never  been  even  suggested ;  hence  the  first  public 
exhibitions  of  Brown,  with  his  brilliantly  successful  demonstra- 
tions of  his  skill  iu  this  direction,  were  a  new  revelation  to  phy- 
siologists as  well  as  to  (he  scientific  world  in  general. 

The  method  of  mind-reading  introduced  by  Brown,  which  is 
but  one  of  many  methods  that  have  been  or  may  be  used,  is  at 
follows: 

The  operator,  usually  blind-folded,  firmly  applies  the  back 


72 


THE  ART  OF  MIKD  BEADIKO. 


of  the  hand  of  the  snbject  to  be  operatad  on  against  Lis  own 
forehead,  and  with  his  other  hand  presses  lightly  upon  the  palm 
and  fingers  of  the  subject's  hand.  In  this  position  he  can  detect, 
if  sufficiently  expert,  the  slightest  movement,  impulse,  tremor, 
tension,  or  relaxation,  in  the  arm  of  the  subject.  He  then  re- 
quests the  subject  to  concentrate  his  mind  on  some  locality  in  the 
room,  or  on  some  hidden  object,  or  on  some  one  of  the  letters  of 
the  alphabet  suspended  aloDg  Ihe  -wall.  The  operator,  blind- 
folded, marches  sometimes  very  rapidly  with  the  subject  up  and 
down  the  room  or  rooms,  up  and  down  stairways,  or  out-of-doors 
through  the  streets,  and,  when  he  comes  near  the  locality  on 
which  the  subject  is  concentrating  his  mind,  a  slight  impulse  or 
movement  is  communicated  to  his  hand  by  the  hand  of  the  sub- 
ject. 

This  impulse  is  both  involuntary  and  unconscious  on  the  part 
of  the  subject.  He  is  not  aware,  and  is  unwilling,  at  first,  to 
believe,  that  he  gives  any  such  impulse;  and  yet  it  is  sufficient 
to  indicate  to  the  expert  and  practised  operator  that  he  has  ar- 
rived near  the  hidden  object,  and  then,  by  a  close  study  and 
careful  trials  in  different  directions,  upward,  downward,  and  at 
various  points  of  the  compass,  he  ascertains  precisely  the  local- 
ity, and  is,  in  many  cases,  as  confident  as  though  he  had  re- 
ceived verbal  communication  from  the  subject. 

Even  though  the  article  on  which  the  subject  concentrates  his 
mind  be  very  small,  it  can  quite  frequently  be  picked  out  from 
a  large  number,  provided  the  subject  be  a  good  one,  and  the  op- 
erator sufficiently  skillfuh  The  article  is  sometimes  found  at 
once,  with  scarcely  any  searching,  the  operator  going  to  it  di- 
rectly, without  hesitation,  and  with  a  celerity  and  precision  that, 
at  first  sight,  and  until  tha  physiological  explanation  is  under- 
stood, justly  astonish  even  the  most  thoughtful  and  skeptical, 
(lu  New  Haven  I  saw  Brown,  before  a  large  audience,  march  off 
rapidly  through  the  aisle  and  find  at  once  the  person  on  whom 
the  subject  was  concentrating  Lis  mind,  although  there  was  the 
privilege  of  selecting  any  one  out  of  a  thousand  or  more  present.) 
These  experiments,  it  should  be  added,  are  performed  in  public 
or  private,  and  on  subjects  of  unquestioned  integrity,  in  the 
presence  of  experts,  and  under  a  combinution  of  circumstance 


THS  ART  OF  MIND  HEADIKQ. 


n 


and  conditions  for  the  elimination  of  sources  of  error  that  make 
it  necessary  to  rule  out  at  once  the  possibility  of  collusion. 

The  alternative  is,  therefore,  between  the  actual  transfer  of 
fhought  from  subject  to  operator,  as  has  been  claimed,  and  the 
theory  of  unconscious  muscular  motion  and  relaxation  on  the 
part  of  the  sulject,  the  truth  of  which  1  have  demonstrated  by 
numerous  experiments. 

One  of  the  gentlemen  with  whom  I  have  experiment,  Judge 
Blydenberg,  who  bcgnn  to  test  his  powers  directly  after  I  first 
called  public  attention  to  the  subject  in  New  Haven,  claims  to 
succeed,  even  with  the  most  intellectual  persons,  provided  they 
fully  comply  \vith  the  conditions,  and  honestly  and  persistently 
concentrate  their  minds.  One  fact  of  interest,  with  regard  to  his 
experiments,  is  the  exceeding  minuteness  of  the  objects  that  he 
finds.  A  large  number  of  the  audience  empty  their  pockets  cn 
the  table,  until  it  is  covered  vith  a  medley  of  keys,  knives, 
trinkets,  and  miscellaneous  small  oljects.  Out  of  them  the 
6u1  ject  belects  a  small  sec<l  a  littlo  larger  than  a  pea,  and  even 
this  the  operator,  after  Kcme  searching,  hits  precisely. 

One  may  take  a  large  bunch  of  keys,  throw  them  on  the  table, 
and  he  picks  out  the  very  one  on  which  the  subject  concentrates 
his  mind. 

Another  fact  of  interest  in  his  experiments  is  that,  if  a  subject 
thinks  ovtr  a  number  of  articles  in  different  parts  of  the  room, 
and,  after  some  doubt  and  hesitation,  finally  selects  some  one, 
the  operator  will  lead  him,  sometimes  successively,  to  the  dif- 
ferent objects  on  which  he  has  thought,  and  will  wind  up  w  ith 
the  one  that  he  finally  selected.  He  also  performs  what  is 
known  as  the  "  double  test,"  which  consists  in  taking  the  hand 
of  a  third  party,  who  knows  nothing  of  the  hidden  object,  but 
who  is  connected  with  another  party  who  does  know,  and  who 
concentrates  his  mind  upon  it.  The  connection  of  these  two 
persons  is  made  at  the  wrist,  and  the  motion  is  communicated 
from  one  to  the  other  through  the  arms  and  hands.  The 
"double  test"  has  been  regarded  by  some  as  an  argument 
against  the  theory  that  this  form  of  mind-reading  was  simply 
the  utilizing  of  unconscious  muscular  motion  on  the  part  of  the 
persons  operated  upon. 


7i  TJTE  ART  OF  MIM)  nEADIKG. ' 

This  gentleman  represents  that  the  sensation  of  muscular 
thrill  is  very  slight  indeed,  even  with  good  suhjects;  and,  in  or- 
der to  detect  it,  he  directs  his  own  mind  as  closely  as  possible  to 
the  hand  of  the  subject. 

In  all  these  experiments,  with  all  mind-readers,  the  require- 
ment for  the  subject  to  concentrate  the  mind  on  the  locality 
agreed  upon  is  absolute;  if  that  condition  is  not  fulfilled,  noth- 
ing can  be  done,  for  the  very  excellent  reason  that,  without  such 
mental  concentration,  there  will  bo  no  unconscious  muscular 
tension  or  relaxation  to  guide  the  operator. 

Experiments  of  the  following  kind  I  havo  made  repeatedly 
with  the  above-named  gentleman: 

A  dozen  or  more  pins  may  be  stuck  about  one  inch  or  half  an 
inch  apart  into  the  edge  of  a  table;  I  concentrate  my  mind  on 
any  one  of  these  pins,  telliug  no  one.  The  operator  enters  the 
room,  gets  the  general  direction  of  the  object  in  the  usual  way, 
and,  when  he  has  ccme  near  to  the  row  of  pins,  he  will  limit 
the  physical  connection  to  one  of  his  index-fingers,  pressing 
firmly  against  one  of  mine,  and  in  this  way  ho  soon  finds  the 
head  of  the  pin  on  which  my  mind  has  been  concentrated.  The 
only  limitation  of  area  in  the  locality  that  can  be  found  by  a 
good  mind-reader  with  a  good  subject  is,  that  two  objects  should 
not  be  so  near  to  each  other  that  the  finger  of  the  operator  strikes 
on  both  at  once, 

"When  I  began  the  study  of  this  subject,  I  supposed,  even  after 
the  true  theory  of  the  matter  had  become  clear  to  me,  that  very 
small  objects  and  narrow  areas  could  not  be  found  in  this  way. 
Subsequent  experiments  showed  that  this  supposition  was  erro- 
neous. In  a  wide  hall,  in  the  presence  of  a  large  audience, 
where  the  subject  had  the  right  to  think  of  any  object  he  chose, 
Brown  once  found,  after  considerable  searching,  so  limited  an 
area  as  a  capital  letter  in  the  title  of  a  newspaper  pinned  up  on 
the  wall  and  barely  within  reach  About  an  hour  af'er,  in  the 
Bame  place,  he  iound  a  very  small  vial  out  of  quite  a  large  num- 
ber ranged  in  a  row.  Although  reasoning  deductively  from  the 
known  relations  of  mind  to  body,  I  had  established  conclusively  j 
to  my  own  mind  that  the  so-called  mind-reading  was  really  > 
xnuscle-readiDg,  yet  I  could  cot  believe,  until  the  above-named  l 


TUB  ART  OF  MIKD  nEADIXG. 


75 


experiments  had  been  made,  and  frequently  repeated,  that  it 
vrc.s  possible  for  even  the  most  expert  operator  to  find  Bnch 
F.mall  oljects;  r.nd  no  physiologist,  I  am  sure,  vould  have  be- 
lieved snch  precision  in  these  experiments  conceivable  until  his 
general  deductions  had  been  many  times  verified,  and  supple- 
mented by  observations  in  which  every  source  of  error  was 
guarded  ag.ninst. 

As  already  remarked,  there  are  a  variety  of  ways  of  making 
the  physical  connection  between  subject  and  oj^erator.  A  lady 
may  go  out  of  the  room,  and  while  she  is  absent  an  object  is 
hidden.  She  returns,  and  two  ladies,  who  know  where  the  ob- 
ject is,  stand  up  beside  her  in  the  middle  of  the  room  and  placo 
both  cf  their  hands  upon  her  body,  one  hand  in  front,  the  other 
behind;  all  three  stand  therefor  a  moment,  the  two  subjects 
who  know  where  the  object  is,  keeping  their  minds  intensely 
concentrated  on  that  locality.  In  a  moment  or  so  this  lady  who 
is  to  find  the  object  moves  off  in  the  direction  where  it  is,  tho 
other  ladies  with  her  still  keeping  their  hands  upon  her,  and  in 
nearly  all  cases  she  finds  it.  This  is  accomplished  by  the  un- 
conscious muscular  tension  of  the  two  ladies  who  know  where 
the  object  is,  acting  upon  the  person  of  the  lady  who  is  seeking 
it. 

This  experiment  I  have  repeated  with  a  number  of  amateur 
performers,  and  in  all  cases  with  pretty  uniform  success.  This 
method  is  easier,  both  to  learn  and  to  practice,  than  some  of  the 
others;  it  is  also  far  less  artistic,  and  is  not  at  all  adapted  for  the 
finding  of  very  small  localities.  It  illustrates,  however,  the 
general  principle  of  mind  acting  on  body  producing  muscular 
tension  in  the  direction  of  that  locality  on  which  the  thoughts 
are  con'^entrated. 

The  relaxation,  when  the  locality  or  its  neighborhood  is 
reached,  is  not  so  distinctly  appreciated  in  this  method  of  ex- 
perimenting, which  is  BufScient,  however,  to  ens.ble  the  operator 
to  get  the  right  direction  and  to  proceed  until  the  corner  or  side 
of  the  room  is  reached;  then,  by  a  combination  of  manipulation 
and  guess-work,  she  will,  after  a  few  trials,  get  hold  of  the  pre- 
cise ol  ject  hidden,  or  locality  thought  of.  Yrhen  the  operator 
and  subject  are  connected  by  the  methods  practised  by  i3rown. 


76 


THE  ART  OF  MISD  BEADIXG. 


it  is  possible  to  detect  also  the  relaxation  when  the  locality  is 
reached,  and,  guided  by  this,  the  master  in  the  art  knows  just 
when  and  where  to  stop,  and,  in  very  many  cases,  feels  abso- 
lutely sure  that  he  is  right,  and  with  a  good  subject  is  no  more 
liable  to  error  than  he  would  be  to  hear  wrongly  or  imperfectly 
if  directed  by  wor  J  of  mouth. 

The  special  methods  of  muscle-reading  here  described  may 
be  varied  almost  indefinitely,  the  only  essential  condition  being, 
that  the  connection  between  the  subject  or  subjects  is  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  easily  allow  the  sense  of  muscular  tension  or  relax- 
ation to  be  communicated.  Instead  of  two  subjects,  there  may 
be  three,  four,  or  half  a  dozen,  or  but  one.  With  a  number  of 
subjects  the  chances  of  success  are  greater  thr.n  with  one,  for 
the  twofold  reason  that  the  united  muscular  tension  of  all  will 
be  more  readily  foU  than  that  of  but  one,  and  because  any  single 
subject  may  be  a  bad  one — that  is,  one  who  is  capable  of  mus- 
cular control- -while  among  a  number  there  will  be  very  likely 
one  or  more  good  ones.  For  these  two  reasons,  amateurs  suc- 
ceed in  this  latter  method  when  they  fail  or  succeed  but  im- 
perfectly after  the  method  of  Brown. 

A  method  frequently  used,  although  it  is  not  very  artistic, 
consists  in  simply  taking  the  hand  of  the  olject  and  leading 
him  directly,  or,  as  is  more  likely  to  be  the  case,  indirectly  to 
the  locality  on  which  his  mind  is  concentrated. 

J.  Stanley  Grimes  thus  describes  the  performance  of  a  mind- 
reader  in  Chiccgo:  "I  repeatedly  witnessed  similar  perform- 
ances with  different  experts  in  this  branch  and  under  circum- 
stances where  every  element  of  error  from  intentional  or  unin- 
tentional collusion  was  rigidly  excluded.  At  the  request  of  the 
company  the  same  young  lady  was  again  sent  from  the  room 
and  blindfolded,  as  on  previous  occasions.  The  gentleman  re- 
quested the  company  to  suggest  anything  they  desired  the 
subject  should  be  willed  to  do,  thus  removing  any  possibility  of 
a  secret  agreement  to  deceive  between  the  parties.  It  was  sug- 
gested that  the  young  lady  should  be  brought  into  the  room 
and  placed  in  a  position  with  her  face  toward  the  north;  that 
the  gentleman  should  then  place  his  fingers  upon  her  shoulder, 
ftfl  before;  that  she  should  turn  immediately  to  the  right  facing 


TEE  ART  OF  MUD  BEADIXG: 


77 


the  sontli,  .incl  proceed  to  a  certain  figure  in  tbc  parlor-carpet; 
tlien  tnrniug  to  the  west,  slie  \vas  to  approach  a  sofa  in  a  remote 
corner  of  the  room,  from  which  she  shouhl  remove  a  small  tidy, 
which  she  should  take  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  and 
placed  it  upon  the  head  of  a  certain  young  gentleman  in  the 
companj'';  she  was  then  to  proceed  to  the  extreme  end  of  the 
parlor,  and  take  a  coin  from  the  right  vest  pocket  of  a  gentle- 
man, and  return  to  the  opposite  side  of  the  room,  and  place  the 
coin  in  the  left  ves^  pocket  of  another  gentleman  named;  she  was 
then  to  remove  the  tidy  from  the  head  of  the  gentleman  upon 
whom  it  had  been  placed,  and  return  it  to  the  ide-u-ieie  where 
she  originally  found  it. 

"I  must  confess  to  no  little  surprise  when  I  saw  the  young 
lady  perform,  with  the  most  perfect  precision,  every  minute  de- 
tail, as  above  des«ribed,  and  with  the  most  surprising  alacrity; 
in  fact,  so  quick  were  her  motions  that  it  was  with  the  greatest 
difficulty  that  the  gentleman  could  keep  pace  with  the  young 
lady's  movements." 

I  have  seen  a  performer— who,  though  one  of  the  pioneers  in 
this  art,  is  far  less  skillful  than  many  with  whom  I  have  experi- 
menteJ — take  a  hat  from  the  head  of  a  gentleman  in  a  small 
private  circle,  and  carry  it  across  the  room  and  put  it  on  the  head 
of  another  gentleman;  take  a  book  or  any  other  object  from  one 
person  to  another;  or  go  in  succession  to  different  pictures  hang- 
ing on  the  wall,  and  x^erform- other  feats  of  a  similar  character, 
while  simply  taking  hold  of  the  wrist  of  the  subject.  In  the  ex- 
periment described  by  Mr.  Grimes  the  subject  placed  three  fin- 
gers of  his  right  hand  on  the  shoulder  of  the  operator.  Note  the 
fact  that  in  all  these  experiments  direction  and  locality  are  all  that 
the  miud-reader  finds;  the  quality  of  the  object  found,  or  indeed 
whether  it  be  a  movable  object  at  all,  or  merely  a  limited  local- 
ity, as  a  figure  in  the  carpet  or  on  the  wall,  is  not  known  to  the 
mind-reader  until  he  picks  it  up  or  handles  it;  then  if  it  be  a 
small  obj  ^,ct,  as  a  hat,  a  book,  or  coin,  or  tidy,  he  very  naturally 
takes  it  and  moves  off  with  it  in  the  direction  indicated  by  the 
unconscious  muscular  tension  of  the  subject,  and  leaves  it  where 
he  is  ordered  by  unconscious  muscular  relaxation.  In  the  great 
excitement  that  attends  these  novel  and  most  remarkable  exper- 


78 


THE  ART  OF  MIKD  BEADING, 


imcnts  the  entranced  audience  fail  to  notice  tliat  the  operator 

reall}'  Unds  nothing  but  direction  and  localUy. 

I  have  said  that  various  errors  of  inference,  as  well  as  of  ob- 
servation, have  been  associated  with  these  experiments.  A  young 
lady  who  had  been  quite  successful  as  r.n  amateur  in  this  art 
was  suljected  by  mo  to  a  criiical  analysis  of  her  powers  before 
a  large  private  audience.  She  supposed  that  it  was  necessary 
for  all  the  persons  in  the  audience  to  concentrate  their  minds  on 
the  sul  jsct  as  well  as  those  whose  hands  were  upon  her.  I 
proved  by  some  decisive  experiments,  in  which  a  comparison 
was  made  with  what  could  be  done  by  chance  alone,  that  this 
was  not  necessarj^  and  that  the  silent,  unexpressed  will  of  the 
aiiclicnco  had  no  effect  on  the  operator,  save  certain  nervous  sen- 
sations created  by  the  emotion  of  expectanc}'.  Similarly,  I 
proved  that,  when  connected  with  the  subjects  by  a  wire,  she 
could  find  nothing,  although  she  experienced  various  subjective 
sensations,  which  she  attributed  to  "  magnetism,"  but  which 
were  familiar  results  of  mind  acting  on  body. 

Another  lady,  who  is  quite  successful  in  these  experiments, 
thought  it  was  necessary  to  hide  keys,  and  supposed  that  "  mag- 
netism "  had  something  to  do  with  it.  I  told  her  that  that  was 
not  probable,  and  tried  another  object,  and  found  that  it  made 
no  difiference  what  the  object  was.  She  supposed  that  it  was 
necessary  that  the  object  should  be  secx'eted  on  some  person.  I 
found  that  this  was  not  necessary  She  does  not  always  succeed 
in  finding  the  exact  locality  at  once,  but  in  some  cases  she  goes 
directly  to  it;  she  very  rarely  fails. 

In  order  to  settle  the  question  beyond  dispute  whether  un- 
conscious muscular  action  was  the  sole  cause  of  this  success  in 
finding  objects,  I  made  the  following  crucial  experiments  with 
this  Lidy:  Ten  letters  of  the  alphabet  were  placed  on  a  piano, 
the  letters  being  written  on  large  pieces  of  paper.  I  directed  her 
to  see  how  many  times  she  would  get  a  letter  which  was  in  the 
mind  of  one  of  the  observers  in  the  room  correctly  by  chance 
purely,  without  any  physical  touch.  She  tried  ten  times,  and 
got  it  right  twice.  I  thrn  had  her  try  ten  experiments  with  the 
hand  of  the  person  operated  on  against  the  forehead  of  the  oper- 
ator, the  hand  of  the  operator  lightly  touching  against  the  fin- 


THE  ART  OF  MIND  BEADIXG. 


79 


gers  of  tliis  hand,  and  the  person  operated  on,  concentrating  her 
mind  all  the  while  on  t  :e  object,  and  looking  at  it.  In  ten  ex- 
j)eriments,  tried  this  day,  with  the  same  letters,  she  was  success- 
ful six  times.  I  then  tried  the  same  number  of  experiments 
with  a  wire,  one  end  being  attached  to  the  head  or  hand  of  tho 
subject,  and  the  other  end  to  the  head  or  hand  of  the  operator. 
The  wire  was  about  ten  feet  long,  and  was  so  arranged— being 
made  fast  at  the  middle  to  a  chair — that  no  unconscious  muscu- 
lar motion  could  be  communicated  through  it  from  the  person  on 
whom  she  was  operating.  She  was  successful  but  once  out  of 
ten  times.  Thus  we  see  that  by  pure  chance  she  was  successful 
twice  out  often  times;  by  utilizing  unconscious  muscular  action 
in  the  method  of  Brown  she  was  successful  six  times  out  of  ten. 
Wben  connected  by  a  wire  she  was  less  successful  than  when 
she  depended  on  pure  chance  without  any  physical  connection. 
In  order  still  further  to  confirm  this,  I  suggested  to  this  lady  to 
find  objects  with  two  persons  touching  her  body  in  the  manner 
we  have  above  described.  I  told  these  two  to  deceive  her,  con- 
centrating their  minds  on  the  object  hidden,  at  the  same  time 
using  conscious  motion  toward  some  other  part  of  the  room. 
These  experiments,  several  times  repeated,  showed  that  it  was 
possible  to  deceive  her,  just  as  we  had  found  it  possible  to  de- 
ceive other  muscle-readers. 

The  question  wli ether  it  is  possible  for  one  to  be  a  good 
muscle-reader  and  pretty  uniformly  successful,  and  yet  not 
know  just  how  the  trick  is  done,  must  be  answered  in  the  affirm- 
ative. It  is  possible  to  become  quite  an  adept  in  this  art  with- 
out sTispecting,  even  remotely,  the  physiological  explanation. 
The  muscular  tension  necessary  to  guide  the  operator  is  but 
slight,  and  the  sensation  it  produces  may  be  very  easily  refer- 
red by  credulous,  uninformed  operators  to  the  passage  of  "  mag- 
netism;" and  I  am  sure  that  with  a  number  of  operators  on  whom 
I  have  experimented  this  mistake  is  made.  Some  operators  de- 
clare that  they  cannot  tell  how  they  find  the  locality,  that  their 
success  is  to  them  a  mystery ;  these  declarations  are  made  by 
private,  amateur  performers,  who  have  no  motive  to  deceive  me, 
and  whoso  whole  conduct  during  the  experiments  confirms 
their  statements.    Other  operators  speak  of  thrills  or  vibrations 


80 


THE  AB  T  OF  MnD  BEADIXG. 


xrhich  tbey  feel,  auras  and  all  sorts  of  indefinable  sensations. 
These  manifold  sj'mptoms  are  purely  subjective,  tbe  result  of 
mind  acting  on  the  body,  the  emotions  of  wonder  and  expec- 
tancy develoinng  various  phenomena  that  are  attributed  lo  "  an- 
imal magnetism,"  "  mesmerism  "  or  "electricity  "—in  short,  to 
everything  but  the  real  cause.  I  have  seen  amateurs  who  de- 
clared that  they  experienced  these  sensations  when  trying  with- 
out success  to  "  read  mind  through  the  wires,  or  perhaps  with- 
out any  connection  with  t]ie  subject  whatever.  Persons  who  are 
in  the  vicinity  of  galvanic  batteries,  even  though  not  in  the  cir- 
■cuit,  very  often  report  similar  experiences. 

The  facts  which  sustain  the  theory  that  the  so-called  mind- 
reading  is  really  mus('le-reading — that  is,  unconscious  muscr.lar 
tension  and  relaxation  on  the  part  of  the  subject — may  be  thus 
Bummarizod: 

1.  Mind-readers  are  only  able  to  find  direction  and  locaUly,  and, 
in  order  to  find  even  these,  thej'  must  be  in  physical  connection 
wi:h  th'j  sul.ject,  who  must  move  his  body  or  some  portion  of  it — 
as  the  fingers,  hand,  or  arm.  If  the  sul  ject  sits  perfectly  still, 
and  keeps  his  fingers,  hand,  and  arm,  perfectly  quiet,  so  far  as 
it  is  possible  for  him  to  do  so  by  conscious  effort,  the  mind- 
reader  can  never  find  even  the  hcalitrj  on  which  the  subject's 
mind  is  concentrated;  he  can  only  find  the  direction  where  the 
locality  is.  Mind-readers  never  tell  what  an  object  is,  nor  can 
they  describe  its  color  or  appearance;  locality,  and  nothing  more 
definite  than  locality,  is  all  they  find.  The  object  hidden  may 
be  a  coin  or  a  corn-cob,  a  pin  or  a  pen-holder,  an  elephant's 
tusk  or  a  diamonnd-pin— it  is  all  the  same.  Again,  where  con- 
nection of  the  operator  with  the  subject  is  made  by  a  wire,  bo 
arranged  that  mass-motion  cannot  be  communicated,  and  the 
subject  concentrates  his  mind  ever  so  steadily,  the  operator  does 
just  what  he  would  do  by  pure  chance,  and  no  more.  This  I 
have  proved  repeatedly  with  good  subjects  and  expert  perform- 
ers 

2.  The  subject  can  successfully  deceive  the  operator  in  various 
Trays — first  of  all,  by  using  muscular  tension  in  the  wrong  di- 
rection, andmtiscular  relaxation  at  the  wrong  locality,  while  at 
the  same  time  the  mind  is  concentrated  iu  the  right  direction. 


THE  ATtT  OF  MIKD  nEALlNQ. 


61 


To  deceive  a  good  oper.ator  in  tliis  way  is  not  always  easy,  but 
after  some  i^ractice  the  art  can  be  acquired,  and  it  is  a  perfectly 
fair  test  in  all  experiments  of  this  nature. 

Yet  another  way  to  deceive  the  mind-reader  is,  to  think  of 
some  object  or  locality  at  a  great  distance  from  the  room  in  which 
the  experiments  are  made,  and,  if  there  be  no  ready  means  of 
exit,  the  performer  will  be  entirely  baffled.  I  am  aware  that 
some  very  surprising  feats  have  been  done  in  the  way  of  finding 
distant  out-of-door  localities  by  muscle-readers,  but  in  these 
cases  there  has  usually  been  an  implied  understanding  that  the 
search  was  to  be  extended  to  out-of-doors;  muscle-readers  nave 
thus  taken  their  subject  up  and  down  stairs  or  from  one  room  or 
hall  into  another,  and  out-of-doors  until  the  house  or  locality 
was  reached. 

In  Danielsonville,  Connecticut,  Brown,  after  an  evening's  ex- 
hibition in  which  his  failures  had  been  greater  than  usual  (the 
intelligent  committee  having  the  matter  in  charge  being  pre- 
pared by  previous  discussion  of  the  theory  of  unconscious  mus- 
cular motion),  took  a  subject,  and  led  him  from  the  hotel  in  the 
darkness  through  the  streets,  to  some  rather  out-of-the-way 
building  on  which  the  subject  had  fixed  his  mind.  A  somewhat 
similar  exploit  is  recorded  of  Corey,  a  performer  in  Detroit. 

Another  wr.y  in  which  deception  may  be  jiractised  is  for  the 
subject  to  select  some  object  or  locality  on  the  person  of  the 
muscle-reader.  This  object  may  be  a  watch,  or  a  pocket-book, 
or  a  pencil-case,  or  any  limited  region  of  his  clothing,  as  a  but- 
ton, a  cravat,  or  wristband.  If  such  a  selection  be  made,  and 
the  method  of  physical  connection  above  described  be  used,  the 
experiment  will  be  a  failure,  provided  the  muscle-reader  does 
not  know  or  suspect  that  an  object  on  his  own  jierson,  is  to  be 
chosen.  Similarly,  if  the  subject  selects  a  locality  on  his  own 
person,  as  one  ot  the  fingers  or  finger-nails  of  the  hand  that  con- 
nects with  the  muscle-reader.  When  such  tests  are  used,  there 
is  not,  so  to  speak,  any  leverage  for  the  tension  of  the  arm  to- 
ward the  locality  on  which  the  mind  is  concentrated,  and  the 
muscle-reader  either  gets  no  clew,  or  else  one  that  misleads 
him 

3.  When  a  subject,  who  has  good  control  over  his  mental  and 


61 


THE  ART  OF  MIXD  BEADIXG. 


muscular  movements,  keeps  the  arm  counected  with  the  opera- 
tor pcr/ed/^/  stiff,  even  thoufjh  his  mind  be  well  concentrated  on 
the  hidden  oLject,  the  operator  cannot  find  either  the  direction 
or  the  locality.  This  is  a  test  which  those  who  have  the  requisite 
physical  qualifications  can  sometimes  fulfill  without  difiiculty. 

Here  I  may  remark  that  the  requirement  to  concentrate  the 
mind  on  the  locality  and  direction  sought  for  all  the  time  the 
search  is  being  made  is  one  that  few,  if  any,  can  perfectly  ful- 
fill. Any  number  of  distracting  thoughts  will  go  through  the 
best-trained  mind  of  one  who,  in  company  with  a  blindfolded 
operator,  is  being  led  furiously  up  and  down  aisles,  halls,  streets, 
and  stairways,  fearful  each  moment  of  stumbling  or  striking  his 
head,  and  followed,  it  may  be,  by  astonished  and  eager  investi- 
gators. And  yet  these  mental  distractions  do  not  seem  to  in- 
terfere with  the  success  of  the  experiment  unless  the  arm  is  kept 
studiously  rigid,  in  which  case  nothing  is  found  save  by  pure 
chance.  The  best  subjects  w^ould  appear  to  be  those  who  have 
moderate  pov.-er  of  mental  concentration  and  slight  control  over 
their  muscular  movements.  Credulous  wonder-loving  subjects 
are  sometimes  partially  entranced  through  the  emotions  of  rev- 
erence and  expectation;  with  subjects  in  this  state,  operators 
are  quite  sure  of  success. 

4.  The  uncertainty  and  capriciousness  of  these  experiments, 
even  with  expert  operators,  harmonize  with  the  explanation 
here  given.  Even  with  good  subjects  all  mind-readers  do  not 
uniformly  succeed;  there  is  but  little  certainty  or  precision  to 
the  average  results  of  experiments,  however  skillfully  perform- 
ed. An  evening's  exhibition  may  be  a  series  of  successes  or  a 
series  of  failures  according  to  the  character  of  the  subjects;  and 
even  in  the  successful  tests  the  operator  usually  must  try  various 
directions  and  many  localities,  sometimes  for  ten  or  fifteen  min- 
utes, before  he  finds  the  locality  sought  for;  cases  where  the 
operator  goes  at  once  in  the  right  direction,  stops  at  the  right 
locality,  and  knows  when  he  has  reached  it,  exceptional. 

5.  Many  of  those  who  became  expert  in  this  art  are  aware  that 
they  succeed  by  detecting  slight  muscular  tension  and  relaxation 
on  the  part  of  the  subject. 

Some  operators  have  studied  the  subject  scientifically,  and  are 


THE  ART  OF  MWD  READIXG, 


83 


able  to  analyze  witli  considerable  precision  tlie  different  steps  in 
the  process.  In  the  minds  of  many  this  fact  alone  is  evidence 
adequate  to  settle  the  question  beyond  doubt. 

G.  A  theoretical  and  explanatory  argument  is  derived  from  the 
recent  discovery  of  motor  centers  in  the  cort?x  of  the  brain. 

I  was  repeating  the  experiments  of  Fritsch  and  Hitzig  at  the 
time  when  my  attention  -vvas  first  directed  to  the  remarkable  ex- 
hibitions of  Brown,  and  the  results  of  my  studies  in  the  electri- 
cal irritation  of  the  brains  of  dogs  and  rabbits  suggested  to  me 
the  true  explanation  of  mind-reading  before  any  opportunity 
had  been  allowed  for  satisfactory  experiments. 

The  motto  "when  we  think,  we  move,"  which  I  have  some- 
times used  to  illustrate  the  close  and  constant  connection  of 
mind  and  body,  seems  to  be  justified  by  these  experiments  on 
the  brain,  and  may  assist  those  who  wish  to  obtain  a  condensed 
statement  of  the  physiology  of  mind-reading.  Taking  into  full 
consideration  the  fact  that  all  physiologists  are  not  in  full  ac- 
cord as  to  the  interpretation  to  be  given  to  these  experiments, 
whether,  for  example,  the  phenomena  are  due  to  direct  or  reflex 
action,  still  it  must  be  allowed,  by  all  who  study  this  subject 
experimentally,  that  thought-centers  and  muscle-centers  are 
near  neighbors,  if  not  identical. 

The  popular  theory  to  account  for  these  failures  is  the  weari- 
ness or  exhaustion  of  the  operator;  but  both  in  New  York  and 
in  New  Haven  it  was  observed  that  Brown  met  with  his  most 
brilliant  successes  in  the  latter  part  of  the  evening,  the  reason 
being  that  he  happened  then  to  have  better  subjects. 

From  an  editorial  in  the  Boston  Medical  and  Surgical  Journal 
(September  23,  1875),  referring  to  the  mind-reading  exhibitions, 
and  accepting  the  explanation  here  given,  I  make  the  following 
extract:  "The  whole  performance  seems  to  us  to  furnish  good 
illustrations  of  one  or  two  well-known  principles  of  great  physi- 
ological interest.  Of  these  the  most  important  is  one  that  finds 
at  once  support  and  application  in  the  modern  doctrine  of  the 
nature  of  aphasia  and  kindred  disorders;  namely,  that  the 
thought,  the  conscious  mental  conception,  of  an  act  differs  from 
the  voluntary  impulse  necessary  to  the  performance  of  that  act 
only  in  that  it  corresponds  to  a  fainter  excitation  of  neryous  een* 


£4 


THE  ART  OF  MIXD  LEADIXG. 


ters  in  the  cortex  cerebri  which  in  both  cases  are  anatomically 
identical.  Thus,  in  certain  forms  of  aphasia,  the  power  to  think 
iu  words  is  lost  at  the  same  time  with  the  power  of  si')eech.  Some 
persons  think  definitely  only  when  they  think  aloud,  and  it 
would  readily  be  believed  in  the  case  of  children  and  unedu- 
cated persons  that  the  ability  to  read  would  often  be  seriously 
interfered  with  if  they  were  not  permitted  to  read  aloud.  Simi- 
liarly,  a  half-premeditated  act  of  any  kind  slips  often  into  per- 
formance before  its  author  is  aware  of  the  fact.  Further,  there 
is  reason  to  think,  from  the  experiments  of  Ilitzig,  that  these 
same  centers  may  be  excited  by  the  stimulus  of  electricity  so  as 
to  call  out  some  of  the  simpler  co-ordinated  movements  of  the 
muscles  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  body.  Applying,  now,  this 
principle  to  the  case  iu  hand,  it  will  be  evident  that  for  the  per- 
son experimented  with  to  avoid  giving  'muscular  hints,'  of 
either  a  positive  or  negative  kind,  would  be  nearly  impossible." 

In  all  tbese  experiments  it  should  be  observed  there  is  no  one 
muscle,  there  is  no  single  group  of  muscles,  through  which  this 
tension  and  relaxation  are  developed;  it  is  the  finger,  the  hand, 
the  arm,  or  the  whole  bod}',  according  to  the  method  employed. 
Among  the  various  methods  of  making  connection  between  the 
subject  and  operator,  are  the  following: 

1.  The  back  of  the  subject's  hand  is  held  firmly  again?t  the 
forehead  of  the  operator,  who,  with  his  other  hand,  lightly 
touches  the  fingers  of  the  suLject's<4iand. 

Tuis  is,  undoubtedly,  the  most  artistic  of  all  known  methods. 

2.  The  hand  of  the  operator  loosely  grasps  the  wrist  of  the 
subject. 

This  is  a  very  inartistic  method,  and  yet  great  success  is  of- 
tentimes attained  by  it, 

3.  One  finger  of  the  operator  is  applied  to  one  finger  of  the 
subject,  papilla3  touching  papillae. 

This  is  a  modification  of  the  first  method;  by  it  exceedingly 
small  objects  or  localities  are  found. 

4.  The  oijerator  is  connected  in  the  usual  way  with  a  third 
party  who  does  not  know  the  locality  thought  of  by  the  subject, 
but  is  connected  with  the  subject  by  the  wrist  ("  double  test"). 

In  this  experiment,  wliich  astounded  even  the  best  observers. 


THE  ART  OF  MVD  READIXG, 


85 


the  imconscions  muscular  motion  was  communicated  from  tlie 
Buliject  to  the  arm  of  tho  third  party,  and  through  the  arm  of 
the  third  party  to  the  operator. 

5.  Two,  Ihree  or  more  snljects,  who  agree  on  the  locality  to 
be  thought  of,  apply  their  hands  to  the  body  of  the  operator  in 
front  and  behind. 

This  method  is  excellent  for  beginners,  and  the  direction  is 
easily  found  by  it;  but  it  is  obviously  not  adaj^ted  for  the  speedy 
finding  of  small  objects;  it  is  frequently  used  by  ladies. 

C.  The  hand  of  the  subject  lightly  rests  on  the  shoulder  of  the 
operator. 

In  all  these  methods  the  operator  is  usually  blindfolded,  so 
that  he  maj'  get  no  assistance  from  any  other  source  than  the 
unconscious  muscular  action  of  the  subject. 

The  movements  of  the  operator  in  these  experiments  may  be 
either  very  slow,  cautious,  and  deliberate,  or  rapid  and  reckless. 
Brown  in  his  jiiablic  exhibitions,  was  very  careful  about  getting 
the  physical  connection  right,  and  then  moved  off  very  rapidly, 
sometimes  in  the  right  direction,  sometimes  in  the  wrong  one, 
but  frequently  with  such  speed  as  to  inconvenience  the  subject 
on  whom  he  was  operating.  These  rapid  movements  give 
greater  brilliancy  to  public  experiments  and  serve  to  entrance 
the  subject,  and  thus  to  render  him  far  more  likely  to  be  uncon- 
scious of  his  own  muscular  tension  and  relaxation  through  which 
the  operator  is  guided. 

The  power  of  muscle-reading  depends  mainly,  if  not  entirely, 
on  some  phase  of  the  sense  of  touch.  Dr.  Hanbury  Smith  tells 
me  that  a  certain  maker  of  lancets  in  London,  had  acquired 
great  reputation  for  the  superiority  of  his  workmanship.  Sud- 
denly there  was  a  falling  off  in  the  character  of  the  instrument 
that  he  sent  out,  and  it  was  found  that  his  wife,  on  whom  he  had 
depended  to  test  the  sharpness  of  the  edge  on  her  finger  or 
thumb,  had  recently  died. 

That  the  blind  acquire  great  delicacy  of  touch  has  long  been 
known;  Laura  Bridgman  is  a  familiar  illustration.  Dr.  Carpen- 
ter states  (although  there  are  always  elements  of  error  through 
the  unconscious  assistance  of  other  senses  in  cases  of  this  kind) 


86 


THE  ART  OF  MIXD  READING, 


that  Miss  Bridgm.in  recognized  bis  brother,  whom  she  had  not 
met  for  a  year,  by  the  touch  of  the  hand  alone 

Every  physician  recognizes  the  fact  of  this  difference  of  sus- 
ceptibility lo  touch;  and  in  the  diagnosis  of  certain  conditions 
of  disease,  much  depends  on  the  tadus  erudlius.  I  am  not  sure 
whether  this  delicacy  of  perception,  by  which  muscle-reading 
is  accomplished,  is  the  ordinary  sense  of  touch,  tbat  of  contact, 
or  of  some  of  the  special  modifications  of  this  sense.  It  is  to 
physiologists  and  students  of  diseases  of  the  nervous  system  a 
well-known  fact  that  there  are  several  varieties  of  sensibility— to 
touch,  to  temperature,  to  pressure  or  weight,and  to  pain-  -which, 
possibly,  represent  different  rates  or  modes  of  vibration  of  the 
nerve-force. 

The  proportion  of  persons  who  can  succeed  in  muscle-read- 
ing, by  the  methods  here  described,  is  likewise  a  natural  subject 
of  inquirj'.  Judging  from  the  fact  that  out  of  the  comparitively 
few  who  have  made  any  efforts  in  this  direction,  a  large  number 
have  succeeded  after  very  little  practice,  and  some  few,  who  have 
given  the  matter  close  attention,  have  acquired  great  j)roficiency, 
it  is  i)robable  that  the  majority  of  people  of  either  sex,  between 
the  ages  of  fifteen  and  fifty,  could  attain,  if  they  chose  to  labor 
for  it,  with  suitable  practice,  a  certain  grade  of  skill  as  muscle- 
readers,  provided,  of  course,  good  subje  cts  were  experimented 
with.  It  is  estimated  that  about  one  in  five  or  ten  persons  can 
be  put  into  the  mesmeric  trance  by  the  ordinary  processes;  and, 
under  extraordinary  circumstances,  while  under  great  excite- 
ment, and  by  different  causes,  every  one  is  liable  to  be  thrown 
into  certain  stages  or  forms  of  trance;  the  capacity  for  the  trance- 
state  is  not  exceptional;  it  is  not  the  peculiar  property  of  a  few 
individuals— it  belongs  to  the  human  race;  similarly  with  the 
capacity  for  muscle-reading. 

The  age  at  which  this  delicacy  of  touch  is  most  marked  is  an 
inquiry  of  interest;  experience,  up  to  date,  would  show  that  the 
very  old  are  not  good  muscle-readers.  I  have  never  known  of 
one  under  fifteen  years  of  age  to  study  this  subject;  although  it 
is  conceivable  that  bright  children,  younger  than  that  age,  might 
have  sufficient  power  of  attention  to  acquire  th©  art,  certainly  if 
they  had  good  instruction  in  it 


Tins  ART  OF  Mim)  BEADiyO. 


87 


In  these  mind-reading  experiments,  as  indeed  in  all  similar 
or  allied  experiments  with  the  living  human  beings,  there  are 
fiix  sources  of  error,  all  of  which  must  be  absolutely  guarded 
against  if  the  results  are  to  have  any  precise  and  authorative 
value  in  science. 

1.  The  involuntary  and  unconscious  action  of  brain  and  mus- 
cle, including  trance,  in  which  the  subject  becomes  a  pure  auto- 
maton. I  have  used  the  phrase  "involuntary  lifo  "to  cover  all 
these  phenomena  of  the  system  that  appear  independently  of 
the  will.  The  mnjority  of  those  who  studied  the  subject  of  mind- 
readidg— even  physicians  and  physiologists— tailed  through 
want  of  a  proper  understanding  or  appreciation  of  this  side  of 
physiology. 

2.  Chance  and  coincidences.  Neglect  of  this  source  of  error 
was  the  main  cause  of  the  unfortunate  results  of  the  wire  and 
chain  experiments  with  mind-readers. 

3  Intentional  deception  on  the  part  of  the  subject. 

4.  Unintentional  deception  on  the  part  of  the  subject. 

5.  Collasion  of  confederates.  To  guard  against  all  the  above 
sources  of  error  it  is  necessary  for  the  experimenter  himself  to 
use  deception. 

6.  Uuintentional  assistance  of  audience  or  bystanders. 
When  the  muscle-reader  performs  before  an  enthusiastic 

audience,  he  is  likely  to  be  loudly  applauded  after  each  success; 
and,  if  the  excitement  be  great,  the  applause,  with  shuffling  and 
rustling,  may  begin  before  he  reaches  the  right  locality,  while 
he  is  approaching  it;  when^  on  the  other  hand,  he  is  far  away 
from  the  locality,  the  audience  will  inform  him  by  ominous 
silence.  The  performance  thus  becomes  like  the  hide-and-seek 
games  of  children,  where  they  cry  "  "Warm  !  "  as  the  blindfolded 
operator  approaches  the  hidden  object;  **  Hot !  "  as  he  comes 
close  to  it;  and  "  Cold  !  "  when  he  wanders  far  from  it.  Some 
of  the  apparent  successes  with  the  wire-test  may  be  thus  ex- 
plained. 

In  regard  to  all  the  public  exhibitions  of  muscle-readers,  it 
should  be  considered  that  the  excitement  and  eclat  of  the  occa- 
sion contribute  not  a  little  to  the  success  of  the  operator;  the 
•ubjects  grow  enthusiastic— are  partly  entranced,  it  may  bo — 


83 


AlCnEMT. 


become  partners  in  the  cause  of  iLe  performer — and  uncon- 
Bciously  riJl  liira  far  more  tlian  tliey  would  do  in  a  similar  en- 
tertainment that  was  purely  private.  In  a  private  entertainment 
of  muscle-reading  at  vi'bicli  I  was  present,  one  of  the  subjects, 
while  standing  still,  with  liiii  Lands  on  the  operator,  actually 
took  a  step  forward  toward  the  locality  on  which  his  mind  was 
concentrated,  thus  illustrating  in  a  visible  manner  the  process 
by  which  muscle-reading  is  made  possible. 

The  subject  under  discussion,  it  will  be  observed,  is  to  be 
studied  bolh  inductively  and  deductively.  The  general  claim 
of  mind  or  thou.qht  reading  is  disproved  not  by  any  such  ex- 
periments as  arc  hero  detailed,  no  matter  how  accurate  or  nu- 
merous the;'  may  be,  but  my  reasoning  deductively  from  the 
broad  principle  of  phj'siolo'gy,  that  no  human  being  has  or  can 
have  any  qualifies  dirercnt  in  hbul  fjora  those  that  belong  to 
the  race  in  general.  The  advantage  v.hich  one  human  being 
has  over  another— not  excepting  the  greatest  geniuses  and  tho 
greatest  monsters — is,  and  muct  be,  ct  degree  only. 


TZANSrilUTATION  OF  METALS— ALCHEMY. 

Alchkmy  was  the  most  important  branch  of  natural  magic;  it 
had  for  its  aim  the  transmutation  of  metals,  that  is  the  conver- 
sion of  the  baser  metals  into  solid,  virgin  gold. 

To  attain  this  end,  the  alchemists  sought  as  well  to  discover 
the  *•  powder  of  prcjection,"  as  they  termed  it,  which,  thrown 
upon  any  metal,  instantaneously  converted  it  into  gold,  as  to 
seek  out  the  "Philosopher's  Stone,"  or  base  of  all  matter,  which 
enjoyeel  the  additional  property  of  repairing  the  ravages  of  dis- 
ease and  time  upon  the  human  frame,  and,  in  this  wise,  securing 
not  only  unlimited  wealth  but  health  and  vigor  to  a  very  old 
age. 

Authors  of  the  Middle  Ages,  occupied  by  these  day  dreams, 
cite,  be  it  understootl,  the  names  of  a  goodly  number  of  person- 
ages, who,  they  state,  had  actually  discovered  the  philosopher'? 
fitone. 


ALCIIEMT. 


60 


Amand  de  Villeneuve  was  conducted  tbrongli  his  researches 
to  the  discovery  of  a  substance,  which  he  assumed  to  be  the 
"Elixir  ot  long  life,"  but  the  augmented  use  ot  this  article,  in 
our  day,  experience  has  shown  to  be  far  from  conducive  to  the 
health  or  happiness  of  a  majority  of  the  people. 

In  th^  following  terms  he  announces  his  discovery  in  his 
treatise  entitled  "  The  Conservation  of  Y"outh." 

"  Who  would  have  imagined  that  from  wine  we  could  extract 
a  liquid,  demanding  diSerent  treatment,  which  has  neither  its 
color,  its  nature,  nor  its  efifects?  This  water  is  spirits  of  wine, 
or  better.  Water  of  Life  {Aqua  Viice),  and  this  name  befits  it  for 
it  causes  us  to  live  a  long  time." 

Nicholas  Flamel  is  the  most  illustrious  of  all  those  to  whom 
has  been  attributed  discovery  of  the  philosopher's  stone.  A 
writing  master  and  engraver,  Nicholas  Flamel  succeeded  in  ob- 
taining the  most  colossal  fortune  of  his  daj-,  so  that,  oftentimes, 
the  king  came  to  tap  the  money  chest  of  the  artisan.  He  erected 
the  famous  Tower  of  Saint  Jacques,  from  the  bell  of  which,  in  a 
subsequent  century,  rang  the  signal  for  commencing  the  Mas- 
sacre of  St.  Bartholomew,  and  enriched  the  church  with  magnifi- 
cent donations.  He  carried  his  luxury  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
enact,  during  his  lifetime,  a  mausoleum  for  Pernella,  his  wife, 
and  himself,  covered  with  bas  reliefs,  in  which  alchemists  in  a 
later  day  pretended  to  have  discovered  the  various  operations 
indicated  for  the  correct  accomplishment  of  the  Great  Work. 

Flamel  himself  declared  that  he  had  discovered  the  philoso- 
pher's stone,  still,  according  to  the  historian,  La  Martiuiere,  his 
riches  had  a  less  marvellous  origin. 

Flamel,  according  to  this  version,  had  been  called  as  a  writing 
master  to  make  out  an  inventory  of  some  goods  to  be  sold  at 
auction,  and  among  the  articles  he  discovered  a  little  manuscript 
book,  written  in  part  in  Hebrew  and  in  part  in  some  unknown 
characters  which  he  purchased  for  three  sous. 

Several  days  afterwards  Flamel  and  Pernella  made  a  pilgrim- 
age to  the  Church  of  Saint  Jacques  de-  Galice.  While  returning 
they  encountered  a  Jewish  rabbi,  whom  they  accosted.  Flamel 
showed  his  book  to  the  labbi,  who,  having  read  it,  informed 
him  that  it  contained  the  veritable  rules  for  making  the  philoso- 


90 


ALCEEJ^fT. 


pher's  stone,  whereupon  Flarael  offered  the  Jew  to  work  together 
as  faithful  partners. 

During  the  time  that  Flamel,  PerncUa  and  the  rabbi  were 
laboring  conjointly  at  alchemical  toil,  the  king  issued  a  mandate 
that  all  Jews  mast  instantaneously'  evacuate  France,  carrying 
nothing  with  them,  as  all  their  goods  had  been  confiscated. 

The  Jews  left  their  treasures  in  charge  of  Flamel,  and  as  they 
were  all  massacred,  he  found  himself  enriched  from  their  stores. 
In  order  not  to  be  disturbed  in  possession  of  this  sudden  wealth, 
Flamel  sagaciously  circulated  the  report  as  to  his  discovery  of 
the  philosopher's  stone. 

Nevertheless,  despite  all  the  mishaps,  encoTintered  by  those 
who  have  given  themselves  up  to  prosecution  of  the  Great  Work, 
there  are  alchemists  in  these  modern  times.  At  the  present 
moment  there  are  a  number  of  learned  scholars  devoted  to  the 
practice  of  alchemy. 

It  is  curious  to  examine  the  recipes  recommended  to  obtain 
the  philosopher's  stone  or  the  powder  of  perfection. 

Here  we  have  one  of  them: 

"Take  a  crucible  in  which  the  earth  of  Saturn  can  be  held  at 
a  great  heat.  Then  take  a  pound  of  river  sand  and  as  much 
lead.  Place  them  in  a  crucible,  over  a  strong  fire,  until  they 
are  melted  and  reduced  to  earth;  then  take  glass  and  place  it  in 
the  aforesaid  crucible,  and  above  place  a  quantity  of  iron,  which 
cannot  be  dissolved  at  a  red  heat  during  twelve  hours;  after 
which  time  you  will  withdraw  it  and  find  your  glass,  which  has 
carried  off  all  coloring  matter  and  the  gold  which  could  be  iron; 
after  that  you  pulverize  the  whole  and  put  it  into  aqua  regia; 
which  charges  itself  with  r.ll  the  gold  ;  then  you  cause  this  to 
evaporate,  after  which  take  the  gold  and  place  it  in  a  crucible 
for  the  purpose  of  melting  it." 

Here  is  another  recipe,  which  is  scarcely  more  clear; 

"In  the  name  of  God,  take  a  denier  of  fine  gold,  three  deniers 
of  silver,  melt  them  together,  throw  in  ten  deniers  of  saturne, 
which  is  the  true  mediator,  do  not  keep  them  long  melted,  but 
throw  in,  as  soon  as  possible,  an  ingot,  which  you  have  placed 
in  subtile  filings,  then  mix  with  them  a  philosophic  egg,  herme- 
tically sealed,  and  then  consign  them  to  the  secret  furnace.  The 


ASTJROLOGT. 


•1 


matter  will  grow  black.    This  blackness,  starting  from  ft  small 

lire,  continues  night  and  day  until  you  reduce  your  matter  into 
oil;  at  last  it  will  congeal  and  commence  to  turn  white;  augment 
your  fire  to  a  degree  for  each  one  during  forty  days  and  the  red- 
ness will  commence,  augment  still  another  degree  for  thirty 
more  days  until  it  becomes  red  as  blood. 


ASTBOLOGY. 

Astrology,  posterior  as  all  practices  of  divination  are  to  magic 
properly  so  called,  is  however  the  most  ancient  of  the  soothsay- 
ing devices. 

If  historians  are  to  be  believed  it  was  invented  by  the  Chal- 
dean shepherds,  who  were  the  original  observers  of  the  stars  and 
chroniclers  of  regularity  in  celestial  phenomena. 

These  shepherds  in  selecting  their  stars,  in  approximating 
their  appearance  and  occultation  to  certain  circumstances  in 
daily  life,  were  rapidly  led  to  a  conclusion  that  the  human  body 
submitted  to  the  influence  of  the  bodies,  peopling  the  firma- 
ment. 

However  some  modern  savants  have  given  to  astrology  a  total- 
ly dififerent  origin  from  this  creation  popularly  assigned  to  it. 

In  the  first  ages,  say  they,  men,  perceiving  that  monuments 
erected  to  perpetuate  memory  of  events  could  not  resist  the  rav- 
ages of  time,  bestowed  upon  the  stars,  sole  durable  monuments, 
the  names  cf  heros  or  of  memorable  events.  Le  Clerc,  a  savant 
of  the  twentieth  century,  has  pubblshed  in  the  eighth  volume 
of  his  "  Uuiversal  Library,"  a  work  by  the  Cyrean  philosopher 
Erathenes,  in  which  the  names  of  the  constellations  are  explain- 
ed after  the  historical  facts  they  commemorate.  From  Le  Clerc's 
authority,  this  origin  has  been  assigned  to  judicial  astrology. 

The  populace,  philosophers  in  themselves,  concluded  in  be- 
lieving the  celestial  bodies  to  be  inhabited  by  intelligences,  to 
which  they  should  address  their  prayers,  who  likewise  presided 
over  human  destiny. 


92 


ASTBOLOGT. 


Ancient  Greece  and  Eome  believed  in  astral  influences. 

Cbristiaiaity  itself  could  not  uproot  this  superstition  which 
was  perpetuated  down  to  the  Eighteenth  century. 

Kings  and  great  lords  had  their  astrologf^rs  whom  they  con- 
sulted before  embarking  in  any  great  enterprise,  or  affair  of  im- 
portance. 

Louis  XL  attempted  nothing  without  the  advice  of  Mortius 
Galeotti,  a  celebrated  astrologer,  whom  he  had  taken  from  the 
court  of  Matthias  Corvin,  King  of  Hungary.  It  was  in  accordance 
with  his  counsels  that  to  prevent  a  war  between  France  and 
Burgundy,  he  journeyed  to  Peronne  on  a  visit  to  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  Charles  the  Bold,  his  mortal  enemy.  This  latter, 
happy  of  having  Louis  XL  within  his  power,  incarcerated  him 
in  the  citadel  at  Peronne. 

Louis  XL  furious  against  his  astrologer,  who  had  placed  him 
in  this  perilous  situation,  caused  him,  to  come  to  his  prison  after 
having  notified  Tristan  the  Hermit,  excutioner  of  France,  to 
hang  him  as  he  emerged.  But  the  astrologer  remarked  the 
headsman  and  his  assistant  in  the  antechamber,  leading  to  the 
royal  apartments. 

Louis  XI.  after  having  reproached  him  bitterly  for  bis  treason, 
addressed  him  this  question:  "  Will  your  science  allow  you  to 
state  the  moment  of  ycur  death  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  replied  Galeotti  boldly,  "  I  will  die  just  twenty-four 
hours  before  your  majest3^" 

This  answer  astonished  the  King,  who  was  superstitious.  He 
reconducted  in  person  the  astrologer  who  went  forth  safe  and 
sound,  thanks  to  his  presence  of  mind. 

Catharine  de  Medicis  placed  blind  confidence  in  her  astrolo- 
ger, Euggieri. 

At  last,  in  the  Eighteenth  century,  the  Count  of  Boulainvil- 
liers  won  a  great  reputation  as  an  astrologer. 

If  Voltaire  is  to  be  believed  his  prophecies  were  not  always 
realized.  *'  He  announced  to  me,"  said  the  great  writer,  "  that 
I  was  to  die  in  my  thirty-second  year,  and  behold  for  over  thirty 
years  I  have  made  him  lie;  I  fear  he  will  never  forgive  me." 

At  present  astrology  boasts  few  dupes;  consequently  it  is  only 


ASTROLOGY, 


93 


necessary  to  rapidly  expose  its  cardinal  principals  to  give  mere- 
ly an  idea  of  the  futility  of  human  faith. 

Astrologers  believe  the  stars  to  have  a  great  influence  upon 
terrestial  events  and  they  examine  them: 

1st.  To  know  the  omens,  promising  success  or  reverses. 

2d.  To  know  the  character  and  destiny  of  a  new  born  infant — 
this  is  called  casting  a  horoscope. 

3d.  To  create  talismans. 

This  name  is  given  to  metal  plates  or  precious  stones,  upon 
which  are  engraved  signs  or  characters,  corresponding  to  the 
various  constellation.  These  are  worn  upon  the  person  to  pro- 
pitiate the  stars. 

HOBOSCOPES. 

Astrologers  divide  the  zodiac  into  twelve  hours,  each  one  cor- 
responding to  one  of  the  twelve  signs.  The  character  and 
destiny  varies  according  to  the  place  of  the  sun  in  the  heavens  at 
the  moment  of  birth. 

riEST  HOUSE.    Aries.  (March.) 

He  born  beneath  this  sign  will  be  happy  in  love  and  make  a 
fortune  in  business. 

Should  it  be  a  woman,  she  will  be  very  intelligent  but  will  not 
love  work;  she  will  have  severe  sickness  and  be  an  unfaithful 
wife. 

If  a  man,  he  will  admire  the  liberal  arts  and  run  the  risk  of 
dying  through  accident. 

SECOND  HOUSE.    Tauvus.  (April.) 

The  man,  born  beneath  this  sign,  will  be  robust,  presumptu- 
ous and  cruel.  He  will  be  a  miser  at  home  and  a  prodigal  out- 
side,   nevertheless  everything  will  be  prosperous  with  him. 

The  woman  will  be  weak  in  character,  will  cause  great  misfor- 
tunes through  her  indiscretion,  her  falsehoods  and  her  calum- 
nies. 


S4 


ASTROLOGY. 


THIBD  HOUSE.    Gemini  (May.) 

A  man,  born  beneath  this  sign  will  be  afflicted  with  many 
maladies.  He  will  be  virtuous  and  a  good  father  of  a  family. 
Nevertheless  he  will  have  many  enemies  who  will  prosecute  him 
bitterly, 

A  woman  will  be  handsome,  gracious,  learned  and  well  be- 
loved; she  will  render  her  husband  happy.  At  fifty  years  of  age 
Bhe  will  undergo  severe  sickness. 

FOUETH  HOUSE.     CanctT.  (June.) 

A  man  born  beneath  this  sign  will  be  small ;  he  will  speak 
slowly  and  be  of  indifferent  intelligence  and  unhappy  iu  his 
family  circle.    He  will  die  poor. 

A  woman  will  be  robust,  commit  many  follies,  be  given  to  gos- 
sip and  scandal  and  addicted  to  drink.  She  will  be  the  scourge 
of  her  household 

nrxH  HOUSE.    Leo.  (July.) 

A  man  born  beneath  this  sign  will  be  hardy,  courageous,  in- 
clined towards  wrath  although  gifted  with  a  naturally  good 
disposition.  His  talents  will  bring  him  into  good  society  and 
make  him  ever  welcome.  He  should  anticipate  great  misfor- 
tunes. 

The  woman  will  be  beautiful,  but  headstrong  and  of  a  pout- 
ing humor.  She  will  be  deeply  loved  and  will  cause  her 
husband  jealousy.    She  will  never  have  a  large  fortune. 

SIXTH  HOUSE.    Virgo.  (August.j^ 

A  man  born  beneath  this  sign  will  frame  many  projects  and 
execute  none;  he  will  love  study  and  the  sciences.  He  will  be 
very  fortunate  in  love. 

The  woman  will  be  tall  and  good  looking,  much  loved,  and 
will  have  a  great  memory,  and  acquire  the  art  of  pleasing. 


ASTROLOGY. 


SEVENTH  HOUSE.   Lilra.  (September.) 

The  man  born  beneath  this  sign  will  be  wise  and  prudent; 
his  agreeable  manner  will  cause  him  to  be  beloved  by  every- 
body.   He  will  be  unfortunate  in  his  household. 

The  woman  will  be  devoted  to  dancing;  she  will  marry  young 
and  render  her  husband  happy. 

EIGHTH  HOUSE.    Scovpio.  (October.) 

A  man  born  beneath  this  sign  will  be  undecided  and  uncon- 
stant.  He  will  make  many  enemies  by  his  intrigues  and  remain 
a  long  time  poor.  He  will  undertake  many  journeys,  will  marry 
under  difficulties,  and  Unisli  through  acquisition  of  fortune. 

A  woman,  born  during  the  month  of  October,  will  be  hand- 
some, of  an  excellent  disposition,  very  intelligent  and  univers- 
ally loved.  She  will  be  annoyed  by  many  law  suits,  out  of 
which  she  will  come  triumphant.    Her  marriage  will  be  happy. 

NINTH  HOUSE.    Sagitavius.  (November.) 

The  man,  born  beneath  this  sign,  will  be  of  a  light  complex- 
ion and  travel  much.  He  will  be  devoted  to  labor  and  be  en- 
gaged in  large  business  operations. 

The  woman  will  be  good  looking,  quarrelsome  and  vary  labor- 
ious.   She  will  be  a  victim  to  slander. 

TENTH  HOUSE.    Capricom.  (December.) 

A  man,  born  beneath  this  sign,  will  possess  a  handsome  coun- 
tenance. He  will  be  haughty  and  given  to  tale  beariDg  ;  a 
woman  will  betray  him. 

The  woman  will  be  of  fine  appearance.  She  will  encounter 
litigation  and  undergo  severe  illness. 

ELEVENTH  HOUSE.    AquaHus.  (January.) 

The  man,  born  beneath  this  sign,  will  be  of  diminutive  size, 
irrasciblo  and  very  eloquent.  Ho  will  bo  poor  in  kia  joutk^ 
will  travel  much  and  lead  a  vexed  existence. 


96 


ARTIFICIAL  PRECIOUS  STOXES. 


The  woman  will  be  good  looking,  of  excellent  disposition,  and 
economical. 

tweIjFLH  house.    Pisces.  (February.) 

The  man,  born  beneath  this  sign,  will  be  tall  in  stature, 
proud,  distrustful  and  indiscreet ;  nevertheless  he  will  succeed 
in  his  enterprises. 

The  woman  will  be  aimable,  coquettish  and  very  unfortunate 
in  her  old  age. 

FOKESIGHTS   AND  TALISMANS. 

Foresights  depend  upon  the  state  of  the  heavens  when  the 
undertaking  has  been  commenced  of  which  we  seek  to  discover 
the  auspices.  In  practice,  all  astrologers  vary  so  as  to  render 
the  stars  the  more  favorable. 

Talismans  are  fabricated  at  fixed  periods  in  accordance  with 
influence  of  the  moon.  They  are  generally  impressed  with 
seven  stars,  in  this  wise  figureing  the  Great  Bear,  the  Little 
Bear,  the  constellation  of  Cassiope  or  of  the  Hydra. 


ABT  07  MAKING  ARTIFICIAL  PFcECIOUS  STONES, 

One  daj',  not  long  ago,  (he  jewelers  of  Paris  were  in  a  high 
state  of  excitement,  and  justly  so,  for  the  news  had  reached 
them  from  lae  Academy  of  Sciences  that  two  chemists,  MM.  E. 
Fremy  and  Fell,  had  discovered  a  process  for  the  manuf.:cturo 
by  the  pound  of  certain  kinds  of  precious  stones  ranking  in 
value  next  to  the  diamond,  and  frequently  commanding  still 
larger  prices  than  the  hitter— namely,  the  ruby,  the  sapphire, 
and  the  most  precious  of  all,  the  Oriental  emerald.  At  first  the 
Parisian  jewelers  consoled  themselves  with  the  thought  that  the 
genuine  stones  would  always  be  preferred  to  the  artificial  ones, 
but  the  excitement  increased  when  it  became  known  that  'MIL 
Fremy  and  Feil  did  not  propose  to  imitate  precious  stones,  but 
that  iheir  productions  would  be  perfectly  equal  to  the  natural 


ARTIFICIAL  PRECIOUS  ST0y£3.  97 


ones,  and  taat  a  watch  would  run  on  tlieir  artificial  rubies  as 
well  as  on  natural  ones,  becaaso  botn  of  them  were  equally 
hard.  Nov/  tho  dealers  in  precious  stones  asserted  that  it  was 
sinful  to  imitate  ITaturo's  work  in  that  manner,  and  that  tho 
Government  ought  to  prohibit  it.  On  tho  other  hand,  a  few  cn- 
ihnsiastio  feuiudonistes  proclaimed  that  tho  discovery  in  question 
foreshadowed  a  still  more  important  one — that  of  making  gold 
and  diamonds;  that  the  dreams  uf  tho  alchemists  were  about  to 
be  realized,  and  that  poverty  and  wretchedness  would  be  no 
more. 

Of  the  prospect  of  poverty  and  wrt;;chedness  coming  to  an  end 
we  say  nothing  here.  As  for  the  transformation  of  lead  and 
other  base  metals  into  gold  and  silver,  we  have  to  declare  that 
this  branch  of  alchemy  is  something  altogether  different  from 
the  manufacture  of  precious  stones.  Most  of  our  modern  chem- 
ists hold  metals  to  be  simple,  immutable  elements,  which  have 
ahvays  been  what  they  are  now,  and  which  may  change  their 
form,  but  never  their  peculiar  nature.  Not  so  with  precious 
stones,  most  of  which,  and  especially  those  that  are  most  highly 
prized,  are  of  very  lowly  origin  indeed.  In  the  eyes  of  tho 
chemist  the  ruby,  the  sapphire,  the  topaz,  etc.,  are  simply  modi- 
fications of  one  siibstance  (alumina),  which,  as  clay,  forms  tho 
greater  portion  of  the  earth's  crust;  and  the  diamond,  which  is 
the  prince  of  all  precious  stones,  is  simply  pure  crystallized 
carbon,  and  so  allied  to  charcoal,  lampblack,  etc.  Other  highly 
esteemed  precious  stones,  such  as  the  emerald,  the  aqua-marina, 
and  chrysoberyl,  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  hyacinth,  on  tho 
other,  contain  "earths"  chemically  related  to  argillaceous  earth 
— name! 3%  the  former  consists  of  beryl-earth,  and  the  latter  of 
zirconia;  but  these  earths  in  themselves  are  neither  rare  nor 
precious,  so  that  in  some  countries  the  streets  are  paved  with  the 
irapurer  brothers  of  the  emerald.  The  same  is  true  of  all  other 
precious  stones,  including  pearls  ;  in  the  main  they  are  formed 
of  substances  ot  no  value  whatever,  and  to  be  found  everywhere, 
such  as  agillaceous  earth,  silicic  acid,  fluor-spar,  boracic  acid, 
lime,  magnesia,  etc,  Their  only  superiority  consists  in  the  fact 
tkat  tho  common  substance  in  them  Las  reached  an  extraordi- 


98 


ARTIFICIAL  PRECIOUS  STONES. 


nary  degree  of  crystallization,  for,  aside  from  tlieir  beauty,  their 
rarily  enhances  their  value  in  the  market. 

Chemical  combinations  and  simple  substances  of  mineral  as 
well  as  ot  organic  nature  assume  their  due  crystal  shapes,  which 
are  so  well  defined  as  frequently  to  bear  a  strong  resemblance  to 
those  of  cut  stones,  only  when  they  pass  from  the  liquid  into 
the  solid  state,  and  they  assume  a  large  size  only  when  this 
transition  takes  place  very  slowl}'.  For  instance,  if  we  dissolve 
in  hot  water  as  much  alum  as  can  be  dissolved  therein,  and  sus- 
pend in  the  fluid,  while  allowing  it  to  cool  in  a  quiet  place,  a 
wire  vessel — a  brisket,  a  rosette,  or  a  crown,  wrapped  in  wool— 
we  shall  Gnd  next  morning  that  wire  vessel  covered  with  glass- 
like,  transparent,  more  or  less  large,  glittering  octahedral  crys- 
tals. Cold  water  is  unable  to  hold  in  solution  as  large  a 
quantity  of  the  salt  as  warm  water;  and  the  surialus,  as  the  tem- 
perature of  the  v/ater  decreases,  has  to  separate  slowly  from  it. 
In  so  doing,  small  crystals  are  formed.  They  grow  constantly 
as  the  separation  goes  on,  and,  if  we  leave  the  solution  exposed 
to  the  fresh  air  so  that  it  slowly  evaporates,  we  shall  at  last  ob- 
tain very  large  crystals.  If  the  alum  contained  an  impure  ad- 
mixture of  other  salts,  they  would  remain  in  the  water.  Ci'ys- 
tallization,  as  a  general  thing,  is  also  a  purification  ot  foreign 
admixtures. 

In  all  probability,  in  Nature  many  precious  stones  have  formed 
in  the  same  manner;  and  most  mineralogists  concur  in  the 
opinion  that  rock-crystals,  consisting  of  nothing  but  silicic  acid, 
and  frequently  weighing  hundreds  of  pounds,  have  originated 
thus.  It  is  almost  certain  that  this  formation  from  liquids  into 
solid  bodies  has  taken  place  in  a  large  class  of  half-precioua 
stones,  such  as  quartz  and  pyrites,  consisting  likewise  of  noth- 
ing but  silica — namely,  agate,  jasper,  opal,  chalcedony,  chryso- 
prase,  carnelian,  heliotrope,  and  others. 

At  the  same  meeting  of  the  Parisian  Academy  where  MM. 
Fremy  and  Feil  described  their  process  of  manufacturing  arti- 
ficial rubies  and  sapphires,  M.  Monnier  stated  that  he  had  ob- 
tained artificial  opals  by  pouring  a  hiLjlily-dilu  ted  solution  of 
oxalic  acid  cautiously  upon  a  solution  as  thick  as  molasses  cf 
siliyate  of  soda,  which  brings  about  a  slow  separation  of  the  sii_ 


ARTIFICIAL  PRECIOUS  STONES.  99 


icic  acid.  When,  in  so  doing,  he  used  a  solution  of  the  sulphate 
of  nickel  protoxide,  he  obtained  apple-green  stones,  such  as 
the  chrysoprase.  Thus  we  see  that,  as  long  as  the  process  of 
separation  lasts,  we  may  talk  of  the  growth  of  precious  stones  ; 
and  we  perceive,  from  the  laws  of  crystallization,  how  by  the 
attraction  of  similar  parts,  and  the  exclusion  of  foreign  ones,  the 
formation  of  precious  stones  of  perfectly  "pure  water"  among 
the  more  impure  cneS;  which  are  frequently  found,  becomes 
more  intelligible. 

Another  process  of  crystallization  is  the  slow  cooling  of  molten 
substances.  This  can  be  explained  very  strikingly  to  students 
of  chemistry  if  a  kettle  of  sulphur  or  molten  bismuth  is  cooled 
slow]}',  until  it  is  covered  with  a  crust  of  congealed  matter,  so 
to  speak.  Pierce  that  crust  in  the  middle,  and  pour  out  a  por- 
tion of  the  liquid,  and  there  will  form  on  tho  walls  of  the  cavity 
thus  created  crystals  of  surpassing  beauty,  and  the  whole  as- 
sumes the  appearance  of  a  so-called  crystal  druse,  a  form  often 
assumed  by  amethysts  and  other  half-precious  stones.  It  has 
been  thought  that,  to  make  artificial  diamonds,  it  was  necessary 
only  to  melt  coal;  but,  unfortunately,  the  results  thus  far  ob- 
tained are  of  no  value. 

Nature's  most  successful  way  of  producing  precious  stones  was 
not  to  dissolve  minerals,  but  to  put  them  into  a  fiery  liquid  con- 
dition, and  to  separate  tho  new  productions  slowly  from  their 
former  impure  parts  by  chemical  and  electric  influences,  as  we 
shall  see  directly.  The  earth,  like  the  sun  and  most  fixed  stars 
at  present,  was  undoubtedly  formerly  in  a  fievy,  liquid  condi- 
tion. Then  the  elements  were  commingled;  all  substances  met, 
and  entered  the  strangest  combinations;  the  whole  globe  was  an 
immense  chemical  laboratory.  The  earthy  substances  with  the 
light  metals,  at  tho  last  period  of  those  gigantic  processes,  prob- 
ably formed  tho  "  mother-liquor,"  from  which,  under  various 
chemical  agencies,  there  separated  now  valuable  metals,  now 
grains  of  gold,  and  still  more  frequently  substances  which  were 
ennobled  by  crystallization.  The  "  mother-liquor,"  cooled  with 
its  productions,  we  call  primitive  formations— granite,  feldspar, 
porphyry,  etc.  It  may  here  be  stated  that  these  primitive  pro- 
cesses have  rscently  been  imitated  in  part,  and  that  two  princi- 


100 


ARTIFICIAL  PRECIOUS  STOI^ES. 


pal  components  of  feldspar,  albite  and  crthoclase,  have  lately 
been  obtained  from  a  fiery,  liquid  mixture  of  minerals. 

Precious  stones  so  formed  would  be  colorless  if,  in  the  terribla 
furnace  of  the  primordial  world,  fire-proof  metals  had  not  taken 
upon  themselves  the  task  performed  by  aniline  in  our  present 
dying-works.  Long  before  there  were  colored  plants  and  ani- 
mals, metals  played  the  parts  of  pigments  in  Nature,  and  thus 
produced,  in  stones,  colors  almost  surpassing  in  brilliancy  those 
to  be  found  in  the  animal  kingdom.  Eubiea  and  emeralds  are 
probably  colored  with  tchrome,  sapphires  with  cobalt,  lapis- 
laiulis  with  iron,  and  other  precious  stones  with  copper,  nickel, 
manganese,  etc.  But  we  only  have  to  ref^r  our  readers  to  the 
magnificent  windows  of  Gothic  cathedrals,  with  their  gorgeous 
colors,  produced  by  combinations  of  metals  in  the  molten  state. 
The  false  precious  stones  made  in  Paris  with  so  much  perfection 
from  heavy  strass-glass  are  colored  with  metallic  oxides  in  aa 
lasting  a  manner  as  the  genuine  stones. 

Tho  first  precious  stono  reproduced,  not  only  in  its  appear- 
ance, but  its  real  nature,  and  in  all  its  component  parts,  is  tho 
lapis-lazuli,  the  sapphire  of  tho  ancients,  not  to  be  confounded 
with  the  sapphire  of  our  modern  jswelcrs.  This  ud transparent 
stone,  of  a  magnificent  azure-blue  color,  was  most  highly  prized 
by  the  ancient  Hindoos,  Assyrians,  Persians,  Jews,  Egj'ptians, 
Greeks,  etc. ;  and  this  irrefragably  refutes  tho  erroneous  theory 
of  some  archceologists  that  t!io  ancients  v/erc  unable  to  distin- 
guish the  blue  color.  "When  pulverized,  this  stono  furnishes 
the  surpassingly  beautiful  ultramarine  color  with  w^hich  tho  ar- 
tists of  the  middle  ages  delighted  to  paint  the  mantle  or  gown 
of  the  Virgin  Mary,  although  they  had  to  pay  tho  most  extrava- 
gant prices  lor  tho  pigment,  which  they  always  charged  in  the 
bills  of  those  who  had  ordered  a  sacred  picture  from  Ihcm. 
Some  fifty  or  sixty  years  ago,  Gmelin,  the  German  chemist,  dis- 
covered that  this  most  beautiful  of  blue  colors  could  bo  artifici- 
ally produced  by  heating  argillaceous  earth  with  soda,  sulphur, 
and  carbon  ;  and  now  that  Guimet,  the  French  chemist,  has 
practically  introduced  this  process,  Europe  manufactures  annu- 
ally about  100,000,000  pounds  of  this  pigment,  most  of  which  ia 
produced  in  Germany. 


ARTIFICIAL  PRECIOUS  STOKSS. 


101 


At  a  very  eaily  period  cliemists  devoted  tlieir  attention  to  the 
artificial  reproduction  of  rubies  and  sapphires,  which,  as  vr& 
have  said  before,  consist  of  nothing  but  crystallized  argillaceous 
earth,  colored  by  minute  particles  of  metals.  Several  decades 
ago,  the  chemist  Gaudin  succeeded  in  obtaining  small  ruby 
pellets  from  pure  argillaceous  earth,  precipitated  from  dissolved 
alum  and  moistened  with  cbromate  of  potash.  The  color  ot 
these  rubies,  according  to  the  quantity  of  chromate  which  they 
contained,  was  either  tliat  of  a  rose  or  bordering  on  purple.  The 
pellets  were  so  hard  th.-it  they  easily  cut  glass,  garnets,  and  to- 
pazes; but  they  were  not  crystals,  and  their  transparency  was 
by  no  means  periect.  Similar  experiments  were  made  by  th« 
chemists  De  Bray,  Sainte-Claire  Deville,  Caron,  Senarmont, 
Ebelmann,  and  others.  It  was  long  aclmowledged  that  a  crys- 
tallization of  argillaceous  or  berj'l-earth  had  to  be  obtained,  and 
to  that  end  it  was  necessary  to  reduce  them  with  the  requisite 
quantities  of  the  coloring  metallic  combinations  into  a  state  of 
fiery  liq-aefaction.  Boric  acid  was  selected  for  that  purpose, 
because  when  heated  it  slowly  evaporates.  It  appears  as  vapor 
in  volcanic  countries,  and  is  especially  obtained  in  Tuscany. 
The  belief  that  this  liery  means  of  reduction  had  played  in  Na- 
ture a  part  in  the  formation  of  precious  stones  was  perfectly 
justifiable;  and  so  boric  acid  was  placed  in  comparatively  largo 
quantities  with  argillaceous  or  beryl-earth  in  open  platinum 
crucibles,  which  were  subjected  to  a  long-continued  heat  in  por- 
celain furnaces.  In  fact,  as  soon  as  the  larger  portion  of  the 
boric  acid  has  evaporated,  there  are  evolved  from  the  fiery,  liquid 
mass  small  rubies,  sapphires,  or  emeralds.  This  was  discovered 
some  twenty  years  ago,  but  the  crystals  were  too  small  to  make 
the  process  a  remunerative  one. 

Far  more  satisfactory  were  the  results  of  Fremy's  recent  ex- 
periments. They  are  based  upon  a  different  principle,  namely, 
that  of  sex>arating  the  argillaceous  earth  slowly  from  its  usi;al 
combination  with  silicic  acid,  as  it  is  found  in  Nature  every- 
where, by  bringing  to  bear  upon  it  a  substance  of  stronger  af- 
finity for  the  acid.  In  consequence,  small  crystals  of  argilla- 
ceous earth  are  formed  in  the  fiery,  liquid  "mother-liquor," 
irhich,  in  the  coarse  of  further  separation,  grow  slowly.    In  the 


102 


ARTIFICIAL  PBECIOUS  STONES. 


glass-factories  of  M.  Feil,  quantities  of  tliis  "  mother-liquor  "  of 
precious  stones,  weighing  from  twenty-five  to  fifty  pounds,  wero 
easily  kept  in  a  fiery,  liquid  state  for  two  and  three  weeks,  and 
in  this  way  very  favorable  results  were  obtained.  The  most  ad- 
vantageous process  turned  out  to  be  the  separation  of  the  argil- 
laceous earth  from  the  silicic  acid  by  means  ot  oxide  of  lead,  for 
which  purpose  a  mixture  of  equal  parts  of  pure  porcelain-clay 
and  red-lead  was  placed  in  a  large  crucible  of  firt-proof  clay  and 
exposed  for  weeks  to  rn  intense  red  heat.  Usually,  the  lead  also 
extracts  the  silicic  acid  which  the  walls  of  the  crucible  contain, 
and  cats  holes  through  them.  Hence,  to  avoid  losses,  the 
precious-stone  crucible  should  be  placed  m  another. 

After  several  weeks  of  patient  vv-aiting,  vividly  recalling  tho 
expectant  watching  of  the  old  alchemists  at  their  crucibles  in 
which  the  philosopher's  stone  was  to  be  created,  the  crucible  is 
taken  out  and  cooled.  After  destroying  the  crucible,  the  con- 
tents are  found  to  consist  of  two  strata,  above  a  glassy  one,  con- 
sisting principally  of  silicate  of  lead,  and  below  a  crystalline 
one,  containing  the  most  beautiful  crystals  of  argillaceous  earth, 
in  round  clusters.  If  nothing  but  argillaceous  earth  and  red- 
lead  has  been  placed  in  the  crucible,  these  crystals  are  as  color- 
less as  glass.  They  will  cut  glass  and  rock-crystal,  nay,  even 
tho  very  hard  topaz;  in  short,  they  arc  precious  corundums  or 
diamond-spar,  bo  called  because,  next  to  the  diamond  and 
crystalline  boron,  it  if  the  hardest  of  all  stones. 

Now  rubies,  sapphires,  and  Oriental  emeralds,  are  nothing  but 
colored  corundums,  and  the  former  two  can  bo  easily  obtained 
by  the  addition  of  the  requisite  quantities  of  the  coloring  metal- 
lic combinations.  "When  there  was  added  to  the  mixture  of  ai> 
gillaceous  earth  and  red-lead  two  or  three  per  cent,  of  bichro- 
mate of  potash,  the  crystals  showed  the  beautiful  rose-color  of  the 
ruby;  when  only  a  small  quantity  of  that  salt  waa  used,  and 
simultaneously  a  still  smaller  quantity  of  oxide  of  cobalt  was 
added,  sapphires  were  obtained.  The  i:)recious  stones  thus  pro- 
duced, as  a  rule,  are  covered  with  a  firm  crust  of  silicate  of  lead, 
which  is  best  removed  chemically  by  melting  it  with  oxide  of 
lead  or  potash,  or  by  means  of  hydrate  of  fluor-spar.  Among  a 
number  of  pounds  of  such  crystals  of  argillaceous  earth  which 


ARTIFICIAL  PRECIOUS  ST02ii:S,  103 


the  inventors  submitted  to  the  Academy,  there  were  nu- 
merous jiieces  that  could  not  be  distinguished  at  all  from  natu- 
ral rubies  and  sapphires.  They  possessed  their  crystalline 
shape,  their  M  eigbt,  hardness,  color,  and  adamantine  lustre,  al- 
though the  latter  was  not  altogether  faultless. 

How  completely  the  imitation  of  Nature  has  succeeded,  may 
be  inferred  from  a  peculiarity  which  the  artificial  rubies  have  in 
common  with  the  natural  ones:  both,  upon  being  heated,  lose 
their  rose-color,  and  do  not  recover  it  until  they  are  cooled 
again.  The  diamond-cutters  who  were  requested  to  grind  these 
artificial  rubies  found  them  not  only  as  hard  as  the  natural  ones, 
but  in  many  instances  even  harder;  they  were  not  long  in 
blunting  their  best  tools  made  of  the  hardest  steel.  For  the  use 
of  watch-makers  they  are,  perhaps,  better  than  the  natural 
stones. 

But  jewelers,  too,  are  certain,  sooner  or  later,  to  derive  a  great 
deal  of  benefit  from  these  discoveries.  The  rubies  hitherto  ob- 
tained, although  very  beautiful,  did  not  equal  the  first-class 
natural  stones;  but  they  are  only  the  first  productions  of  a  new 
process,  and  it  is  decidedly  creditable  to  the  inventors  that  they 
immediately  divulged  their  method  without  trying  to  mystify 
the  public.  Now  others,  too,  may  follow  up  this  new  branch  of 
a  promising  alchemy.  Perhaps  more  time  should  be  given  to 
the  crystals  for  their  formation,  for  Nature  had  a  great  deal  of 
time  for  such  productions,  and  it  was  owing  to  this  fact,  per- 
haps, that  it  achieved  such  glorious  triumphs.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  but  that,  at  some  future  time,  these  crystals  of  argilla- 
ceous earth  will  be  colored  also  green,  yellow,  and  purple,  and 
that  thus  the  precious  stones,  which  were  hitherto  distinguished 
as  Oriental  emeralds,  topazes,  and  amethysts,  from  inferior  stones 
of  the  same  name,  will  be  produced.  The  addition  Oriental," 
in  this  connection,  has  no  geographical  meaning,  and  was  ap- 
plied by  jewelers  to  the  harder  and  better  classes  of  emeralds, 
topazes,  and  amethysts.  Perhaps  these  Oriental  stones  will  be 
cheaper  at  an  early  day  than  the  inferior  ones,  and  the  middle 
classes  may  wear  as  brilliant  stones  as  piincesses  do  now. 


lOi 


MESMERISM,  ODYLISM,  TABLE-TUENING,  AND 
SPIRITUALISM. 

The  aphorism  that  "  history  repeats  itself"  is  in  no  case  more 
true  than  in  regard  to  the  subject  on  which  I  am  now  to  address 
you.  For  there  has  been  a  continuity  from  the  very  earliest 
times  of  a  belief,  more  or  less  general,  in  the  existence  of  *'  oc- 
cult" agencies,  capable  of  manifesting  themselves  in  the  pro- 
duction of  mysterious  phenomena,  of  which  ordinary  experience 
does  not  furnish  the  ralionale.  And  while  this  very  continuity 
is  maintained  by  some  to  be  an  evidence  of  the  real  existence  of 
such  agencies,  it  will  be  my  purpose  to  show  you  that  it  proves 
nothing  more  than  the  wide-spread  dijBfnsion,  alike  among  minds 
of  the  highest  and  of  the  lowest  culture,  of  certain  tendencies  to 
thought,  which  have  either  created  ideal  marvels  possessing  no 
foundation  whatever  in  fact,  or  have  by  exaggeration  and  distor- 
tion invested  with  a  preternatural  character  occurrences  which 
are  perfectly  capable  of  a  natural  explanation.  Thus,  to  go  no 
further  back  than  the  first  century  of  the  Christian  era,  we  find 
the  most  wonderful  narrations,  alike  in  the  writings  of  pagan 
and  Christian  historians,  of  the  doings  of  the  Eastern  "sorcer- 
ers" and  Jewish  "exorcists"  who  had  spread  themselves  over  the 
Roman  Empire.  Among  these  the  Simon  Magus  slightly  men- 
tioned in  the  book  of  Acts  was  one  of  the  most  conspicuous, 
being  recorded  to  have  gained  so  great  a  repute  for  his  "magic 
arts"  us  to  have  been  summoned  to  Rome  by  Nero  to  exhibit 
them  before  him  ;  and  a  Christian  father  goes  on  to  tell  how, 
when  Simon  was  borne  aloft  through  the  air  in  a  winged  chariot 
in  the  sight  of  the  emperor,  the  united  prayers  of  the  apostles 
Peter  and  Paul,  prevailing  over  the  demoniacal  agencies  that 
sustained  him,  brought  him  precipitately  to  the  ground. 

Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  hear  it  asserted  that  these 
are  subjects  which  any  person  of  ordinary  intelligence  can  in- 
vestigate for  himself.  But  the  chemist  and  the  physicist  would 
most  assuredly  demur  to  any  such  assumption  in  regard  to  a 
chemical  or  physical  inquiry  ;  the  physiologist  and  geologist 
would  make  the  same  protest  against  the  judgment  of  unskilled 
persMLS  in  questions  of  physiology  and  geology;  and  a  study  of 


MESMERISM,  ODTLISM,  TABlE-TUltKim,  ETC.  105 


mesmerism,  odylism,  and  spiritualism,  extending  over  more 
than  forty  years,  may  be  thought  to  justify  me  in  contending 
that  a  knowledge  of  the  physiology  and  pathology  of  the  human 
mind,  of  its  extraordinary  tendency  to  self-deception  in  regard 
to  matters  in  which  its  feelings  are  interested,  of  its  liability  to 
place  undue  confidence  in  persons  having  an  interest  in  deceir- 
ing,  and  of  the  modes  in  which  fallacies  are  best  to  be  detected 
and  frauds  exposed,  is  an  indispensable  qualification  both  for 
the  discrimination  of  the  genuine  from  the  false,  and  for  the  re- 
duction of  the  genuine  to  its  true  shape  and  proportions. 

It  was  about  the  year  1772  that  Mesmer,  who  had  previously 
published  a  dissertation  "  On  the  Influence  of  the  Planets  on 
the  Human  Body,"  announced  his  discovery  of  a  universal  fluid, 
"the  immediate  agent  of  all  the  phenomena  of  Nature,  in  which 
life  originates,  and  by  which  it  is  preserved;"  and  asserted  that 
he  had  farther  discovered  the  power  of  regulating  the  opera- 
tions of  this  fluid,  to  guide  its  currents  in  healthy  channels,  and 
to  obliterate  by  its  means  the  tracks  of  disease.  This  power  he 
in  the  first  instance  professed  to  guide  by  the  use  ot  magnets  ; 
but  having  quarreled  with  Father  Hell,  a  Professor  of  Astron- 
omy at  Vienna,  who  had  furnished  him  with  the  magnets  with 
which  he  made  his  experiments,  and  who  then  claimed  the  dis- 
covery of  their  curative  agency,  Mesmer  went  on  to  assert  that 
he  could  concentrate  the  power  in  and  liberate  it  from  any  sub- 
stance he  pleased,  could  charge  jars  with  it  (as  with  electricity) 
and  discharge  them  at  his  pleasure,  and  could  cure  by  its  means 
the  most  intractable  diseases.  Having  created  a  great  sensation 
in  Bavaria  and  Switzerland  by  his  mysterious  manipulations, 
and  by  the  novel  effects  which  they  often  produced,  Mesmer  re- 
turned to  Vienna,  and  undertook  to  cure  of  complete  blindness 
u  celebrated  singer.  Mademoiselle  Paradis,  who  had  been  for 
ten  years  unsuccessfully  treated  by  the  court  physician.  His 
claim  to  a  partial  success,  however,  which  was  in  the  first  in- 
stance supported  by  his  patient,  seemed  to  have  been  afterward 
so  completely  disproved  by  careful  trials  of  her  visual  powers,' 
that  he  found  himself  obliged  to  quit  Vienna  abruptly,  and 
thence  proceeded  to  Paris,  where  he  soon  produced  a  great  sen- 
sation.   The  state  of  French  society  at  that  time,  as  I  have  al-' 


106  MESMERISM,  ODTLISM,  TABLE-TURNING,  ETa 

ready  remarked,  was  peculiarly  favorable  to  his  pretensions.  A 
feverisli  excitability  prevailed,  which  caused  the  jjublic  mind  to 
be  violently  agitated  by  every  question  which  it  took  up.  And 
Mesmer  soon  found  it  advantageous  to  challenge  the  learned  so- 
cieties of  the  capital  to  enter  the  lists  against  him;  the  storm  of 
opposition  which  he  thus  provoked  having  the  effect  of  bringing 
over  to  his  side  a  large  number  of  devoted  disciples  and  ardent 
partisans.  He  professed  to  distribute  the  magnetic  fluid  to  his 
congregated  patients  from  a  baquet  or  magnetic  tub  which  he  had 
impregnated  with  it,  each  individual  holding  a  rod  whic)i  i)ro_ 
ceeded  from  the  baquet ;  bat  when  the  case  was  particularly  in- 
teresting, or  likely  to  be  particularly  profitable,  he  took  it  in 
hand  for  personal  magnetization.  All  the  surroundings  were 
such  as  to  favor,  in  the  hysterical  subjects  who  constituted  the 
great  bulk  of  his  patients,  the  nervous  paroxysm  termed  the 
'*  cri.=is,"  which  was  at  once  recognized  by  medical  men  as  only 
a  modified  form  of  what  is  commonly  known  as  an  "hysteric 
fit the  influence  of  the  imitative  tendency  being  manifested 
as  it  is  in  cases  where  such  fits  run  through  a  school,  nunnery, 
factory,  or  revivalist-meeting,  in  which  a  number  of  suitable 
subjects  are  collected  together.  And  it  was  chiefly  on  account 
of  the  moral  disorders  to  which  Mesmer's  proceedings  seemed 
likely  to  give  rise  that  the  French  Government  directed  a  scien- 
tific commission,  including  the  most  eminent  savants  of  the 
time— such  as  Lavoisier,  Bailly,  and  Benjamin  Franklin — to  in- 
quire into  them.  After  careful  investigation  they  came  to  the 
conclusion  that  there  was  no  evidence  whatever  of  any  special 
agency  proceeding  from  the  baquet;  for  not  only  were  they  un- 
able to  detect  the  passage  of  any  influence  from  it  that  was  ap- 
preciable, either  by  electric,  magnetic,  or  chemical  tests,  or  by 
the  evidence  of  any  of  their  senses;  but,  on  blindfolding  those 
who  seemed  to  be  most  susceptible  to  its  supposed  influence,  all 
its  ordinary  effects  were  produced  when  they  were  without  any 
connection  with  it,  but  belived  that  it  existed.  And  so,  when  in  a 
garden  of  which  certain  trees  had  been  magnetized,  the  patients, 
either  when  blindfolded,  or  when  ignorant  which  trees  had  been 
aiagnetized,  would  be  thrown  into  a  convulsive  fit  if  they  be- 
■lieved  themselves  to  be  near  a  magnetized  tree,  but  were  really 


MESMERISM,  ODYLISM,  TABLE-TURNING,  ETC.  107 

at  a  distance  from  it  ;  while,  conversely,  no  effect  M'oiild  follow 
their  close  proximity  to  one  of  these  trees  when  they  believed 
themselves  to  be  at  a  distance  from  any  of  them.  Further,  the 
commissioners  reported  that,  although  some  cures  mij^ht  be* 
wrought  by  the  mesmeric  treatment,  it  was  not  without  danger, 
since  the  convulsions  excited  were  often  violent  and  exceed- 
ingly apt  to  spread,  especially  among  men  feeble  in  body  and 
weak  in  mind,  and  almost  universally  among  women  ;  and  they' 
dwelt  strongly  also  on  the  moral  dangers  which,  as  their  inquir- 
ies showed,  attended  these  practices. 

Now,  this  report,  although  referring  to  a  form  of  mesmeric 
procedure  which  has  long  since  passed  into  disrepute,  really 
deals  with  what  I  hold  to  be  an  important  principle  of  action, 
which,  long  vaguely  recognized  under  the  term  "imagination," 
now  takes  a  definite  rank  in  physiological  science;  namely,  that 
in  individuals  of  that  excitable  nervous  temperament  which  is 
known  as  "hysterical"  (a  temperament  by  no  means  confined  to 
women,  but  rare  in  healthy  and  vigorous  men),  the  expectation 
of  a  certain  result  is  often  sufficient  to  evoke  it.  Of  the  influ^ 
ence  of  this  "expectancy"  in  producing  most  remarkable  changes 
in  the  bodily  organism,  either  curative  or  morbid,  the  history 
of  the  history  of  medicine  affords  abundant  and  varied  illustra- 
tions ;  and  I  shall  presently  show  you  that  it  operates  no  less 
remarkably  in  calling  forth  movements  which,  not  being  con- 
sciously directed  by  the  person  who  executes  them,  have  beei/ 
attributed  to  hypothetical  occult  agencies. 

In  the  hands  of  some  of  his  pupils,  however,  animal  magnet- 
ism, or  Mesmerism  (as  it  gradually  came  to  be  generally  called), 
assumed  an  entirely  new  development.  It  was  discovered  by 
the  Marquis  de  Puysegur,  a  great  landed  proprietor,  who  ap- 
pears to  have  practised  the  art  most  disinterestedly  for  the  sole 
benefit  of  his  tenantry  and  poor  neighbors,  that  a  state  of  pro- 
found insensibility  might  be  induced  by  very  simple  methods 
in  some  individuals,  and  a  state  akin  to  somnambulism  in 
others  ;  and  this  discovery  was  taken  up  and  brought  into  vogue 
by  numerous  mesmerizers  in  France  and  Germany,  while,  d'^ir- 
ing  the  long  Continental  war,  and  for  some  time  aiterward,  i*^ 
remaiaed  almost  unknown  in  England.    Attention  seems  to 


108  MESMERISM,  ODYLISM,  TABLE-TUBNIXG,  ETa 


hav«  been  first  arawn  to  it  in  this  country  by  the  publication  of 
the  account  of  a  severe  operation  performed  in  1829,  by  M. 
Cloquet,  one  of  the  most  eminent  surgeons  of  Paris,  on  a  female 
patient  who  had  been  thrown  by  mesmerism  into  the  state  of 
somnambulism  ;  in  which,  though  able  to  converse  with  those 
around  her,  she  showed  herself  entirely  insensible  to  pain,  while 
of  all  that  took  place  in  it  she  had  subsequently  no  recollection 
whatever.  About  twelve  years  afterward,  two  amputations  were 
performed  in  our  own  country— one  in  Nottinghamshire,  and 
the  other  in  Leicestershire- -upon  mesmerized  patients,  who 
showed  no  other  sign  of  consciousness  than  an  almost  inaudible 
moaning ;  both  of  them  exhibiting  an  uninterrupted  placidity 
of  countenance,  and  declaring,  when  brought  back  to  their  or- 
dinary state,  that  they  were  utterly  unaware  of  what  had  been 
done  to  them  during  their  sleep.  And  not  long  afterward  Dr. 
Esdaile,  a  surgeon  in  Calcutta,  gave  details  of  numerous  mos* 
severe  and  tedious  operations  i^erformed  by  him,  without  the 
inlliction  of  pain,  upon  natives  in  whom  he  had  induced  the 
mesmeric  sleep— the  rank  of  joresidency  surgeon  being  confer- 
red upon  him  by  Lord  Dalhousie  (then  Governor-General  of 
India),  "  in  acknowledgment  of  the  services  he  had  rendered  to 
humanity."  The  results  of  minor  experiments  performed  by 
various  persons,  desirous  of  testing  the  reality  of  this  state,  were 
quite  in  harmony  with  these.  Writing  in  1845,  Dr.  Noble,  of 
Manchester  (with  whom  I  was  early  brought  into  association  by 
Sir  John  Forbes  in  the  pursuit  of  this  inquiry),  said  : 

"We  have  seen  a  needle  thrust  deeply  under  ^e  nail  of  a 
woman  sleeping  mesmericallj',  without  its  exciting  a  quiver;  we 
have  seen  pungent  snuff  in  large  quantities  passed  up  the  nos- 
trils under  the  same  circumstances,  without  any  sneezing  being 
produced  until  the  patient  was  roused,  many  minutes  after- 
ward; we  have  noticed  an  immunity  from  all  shock  when  per- 
cussion-caps have  been  discharged  suddenly  and  loudly  close 
to  the  ear;  and  we  have  observed  a  patient's  little-linger  in  the 
flame  of  a  candle,  and  yet  no  indication  of  pain.  In  this  latter 
case  all  idea  of  there  having  been  courageous  dissimulation  was 
removed  from  our  mind  in  seeing  the  same  patient  afterward 
evince  both  surprise  and  indignation  at  the  treatment  received; 
as,  from  particular  circumstances,  a  substantial  inconvenience 
was  to  result  from  the  injury  to  the  linger,  which  was  by  no 
means  slight."* 

*SrUUh  mnd  F9r9iffi%  MtdUal  Stvitw,  Jifitil,  lUi. 


MESMERISM,  0DTLIS3f,  TABLE-TURNING.  ETC.  109 


This  "mesmeric  sleep"  corresponds  precisely  in  character 
with  what  is  kuown  in  medicine  as  *'  hj-steric  coma;"  the  insen-* 
sibility  being  as  profound,  while  it  lasts,  as  in  the  coma  of  nar- 
cotic poisoning  or  pressure  on  the  brain  ;  but  coming  on  and 
passing  off  with  such  suddenness  as  to  show  that  it  is  dependent 
upon  some  transient  condition  of  the  sensorium,  which,  with 
our  present  knowledge,  we  can  pretty  cerfainly  assign  to  a  re- 
duction in  the  supply  of  blood  caused  by  a  sort  of  spasmodic 
contraction  of  the  blood-vessels.  That  there  is  no  adequate 
ground  for  regarding  it  as  otherwise  than  real,  appears  further 
from  the  discovery  made  not  long  afterward  by  Mr.  Braid,  a 
surgeon  practising  at  Manchester,  that  he  could  induce  it  by  a 
very  simple  method,  which  is  not  only  even  more  effective  than 
the  "passes"  of  the  mesmerizer,  bat  is,  moreover,  quite  inde- 
pendent of  any  other  will  than  that  of  the  person  who  subjects 
himself  to  it.  He  found  that  this  state  (which  he  designated  as 
hypnotism)  could  be  induced  in  a  large  proportion  of  individu- 
als of  either  cex,  and  of  all  ranks,  ages,  and  temperaments,  who 
determinately  fix  their  gaze  for  several  minutes  consecutively 
on  an  object  brought  so  near  to  their  eyes  as  to  require  a  degree 
of  convergence  of  their  axes  that  is  maintainable  only  by  a 
strong  effort. 

The  first  state  thus  induced  is  usually  one  of  profound  coma- 
tose sleep;  the  "subject"  not  being  capable  of  being  roused  by 
sensory  impressions  of  any  ordinary  kind,  and  bearing  without 
the  least  indication  of  consciousness  what  would  ordinarily  pro- 
duce intolerable  uneasiness  or  even  severe  pain.  But,  after 
some  little  time,  this  state  very  commonly  passes  into  one  of 
somnambulism,  which  again  corresponds  closely  on  the  one 
hand  with  natural,  and  on  the  other  with  mesmeric,  somnambu- 
lism. In  fact,  it  has  been  by  the  study  of  the  somnambulism 
artificially  induced  by  Mr.  Braid's  process  that  the  essential 
nature  of  this  condition  lias  been  elucidated,  and  that  a  scientific 
rationale  can  now  be  given  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  phen. 
omena  reported  by  mesmerizers  as  having  been  presented  by 
their  somnambules. 

It  has  been  claimed  for  certain  mesmeric  somnambules,  how- 
ever, that  they  occasionally  possess  an  intelligence  altogether 


110  MESMERISM,  ODTLFSM,  TABLE-TUnSlNG,  ETC, 


snperbuman  as  to  things  present,  past,  and  future,  wLicb  Las 
received  the  designatiu^i  "lucidity;"  and  it  is  contended  lhal  the 
testimony  on  which  we  accept  the  reality  of  phenomena  which 
are  conformable  to  our  scientific  experience  ought  to  satisfy  us 
equally  as  to  the  genuineness  of  those  designated  as  "the 
higher,"  which  not  only  transcend  but  absolutely  contradict 
what  the  mass  of  enlightened  men  would  regard  as  universal 
experience.  This  contention,  however,  seems  to  me  to  rest  up- 
on an  entirely  incorrect  appreciation  of  the  probative  force  of 
evidence  ;  for,  as  I  shall  endeavor  to  prove  to  you  in  my  suc- 
ceeding leciure,  the  only  secure  basis  for  our  belief  on  any  sub- 
ject is  the  confirmation  afforded  to  external  testimony  by  our 
sense  of  the  inherent  probability  of  the  fact  testified  to;  so  that, 
as  has  been  well  remarked,  "evidence  tendered  in  support  of 
what  is  new  must  correspond  in  strength  with  the  degree  of  its 
incompatibility  with  doctrines  generally  admitted  as  true  ;  and, 
where  statements  obviously  contravene  all  past  experience  and 
the  universal  consent  of  mankind,  any  evidence  is  inadequate  to 
the  proof,  which  is  not  complete,  beyond  suspicion,  and  abso- 
lutely incapable  of  being  explained  away." 

It  was  asserted,  about  thirty  years  ago,  by  Baron  von  Reich- 
enbach,  wliose  researches  on  the  chemistry  of  the  hydrocarbons 
constitute  the  foundation  of  our  present  knowledge  of  paraffin 
and  its  allied  products  of  the  distillation  of  coal,  that  he  had 
found  certain  "sensitive"  subjects  so  peculiarly  affected  by  the 
neighborhood  of  magnets  or  crystals  as  to  justify  the  assump- 
tion of  a  special  polar  force,  which  he  termed  Odyle,  allied  to, 
but  not  identical  with,  magnetism;  present  in  all  material  sub- 
stances, though  generally  in  a  less  degree  than  in  magnets  and 
crystals;  but  called  into  energetic  activity  b}'  an 3'  kind  of  phys- 
ical or  chemical  change,  and  therefore  especially  abundant  in 
the  human  body.  Of  the  existence  of  this  odylic  force,  which 
he  identified  with  the  "animal  magnetism"  of  Mesmer,  he  found 
what  he  maintained  to  be  adequate  evidence  in  the  i^eculiar 
sensations  and  attractions  experienced  by  his  "sensitives"  when 
in  the  neighborhood  either  of  magnets  or  cr3'stals,  or  of  human 
beings  specially  charged  with  it.  After  a  magnet  had  been  re- 
peatedly drawn  ulong  the  arm  of  one  of  these  subjects,  sha 


JdESMEEISM,  0DYLIS3I,  TABLE-TUENINQ,  ETC.  Ill 


would  feel  a  pricking,  streaming,  or  sliooting  sensation  ;  she 
would  smell  odors  proceeding  from  it ;  or  she  would  see  a  small 
volcano  of  flame  issuing  from  its  poles  when  gazing  at  them, 
even  in  broad  daylight.  As  in  the  magnetic  sleep  light  is  often 
seen  by  the  somnambule  to  issue  from  the  operator's  fingers,  so 
the  odylic  light  was  discerned  in  the  dark  by  Von  Eeichen- 
bach's  "sensitives,"  issuing  not  only  from  the  hands,  but  from 
the  head,  eyes,  and  mouth,  of  powerful  generators  of  this  force. 
One  individual  in  particular  was  so  peculiarly  sensitive,  that 
she  saw  (in  the  dark)  sparks  and  flames  issuing  from  ordinary 
nails  and  hooks  in  a  wall.  It  was  further  affirmed  that  certain 
of  these  "sensitives"  found  their  hands  so  powerfully  attracted 
by  magnets  or  crystals  as  to  be  irresistibly  drawn  toward  them  ; 
and  thus  that  if  the  attracting  object  were  forcibly  drawn  away, 
not  only  the  hand,  but  the  wliole  body  of  the  "sensitive"  was 
dragged  after  it.  Another  set  of  facts  was  adduced  to  prove  the 
special  relation  of  odyle  to  terrestrial  magnetism— namely,  that 
many  "sensitives"  cannot  sleep  in  beds  which  lie  across  the 
magnetic  meridian;  a  position  at  right  angles  to  it  being  to  some 
quite  intolerable. 

Von  Keichenbach's  doctrine  came  before  the  British  publio 
under  the  authority  of  the  late  Dr.  Gregory,  the  Professor  of 
Chemistry  in  the  University  of  Edinburgh  ;  who  went  so  far  as 
to  affirm  that,  "by  a  laborious  and  beautiful  investigation, 
Eeichcnbach  had  demonstrated  the  existence  of  a  force,  influ- 
ence, or  imponderable  fluid — whatever  name  be  given  to  it — 
which  is  distinct  from  all  the  known  forces,  influences,  or  im- 
ponderable fluids,  such  as  heat,  light,  electricity,  magnetism, 
and  from  the  attractions,  such  as  gravitation,  or  chemical  at- 
traction." It  at  once  became  apparent,  however,  to  experienced 
physicians  conversant  with  the  proteiform  manifestations  of  that 
excitable,  nervous  temperament,  of  which  I  have  already  had  to 
speak,  that  all  these  sensations  were  of  the  kind  which  the 
physiologist  terras  "subjective  ;"  the  state  of  the  sensorium  on 
which  they  immediately  depend  being  the  resultant,  not  of 
physical  impressions  made  by  external  agencies  upon  the  or- 
gans of  sense,  but  ot  cerebral  changes  connected  with  the  ideas 
with  which  the  minds  of  the  "sensitives"  hud  come  to  be  "pos- 


112  MESMERISM,  ODTLISM,  TABLE-TURNIXG,  ETC, 


sessed."  The  very  fact  that  no  manifestation  of  the  supposed 
force  could  be  obtained  except  through  a  conscious  human  or- 
ganism should  have  been  quite  sufficient  to  suggest  to  any 
philosophic  investigator  that  he  had  to  do  not  with  a  new  physi- 
cal force,  but  v/ith  a  peculiar  phase  ot  physical  action,  by  no 
means  unfamiliar  to  those  who  had  previously  studied  the  influ- 
ence of  the  mind  upon  the  body.  And  the  fact  which  Von 
Reichenbach  himself  was  honest  enough  to  admit— that  when  a 
magnet  was  poised  in  a  delicate  balance,  and  the  hand  of  a 
"sensitive"  was  placed  above  or  beneath  it,  the  magnet  was 
never  drawn  toward  the  hand— ought  to  have  convinced  him 
that  the  force  which  attracted  the  "sensitive's"  hand  to  the  mag- 
net has  nothing  in  common  with  physical  attractions,  whose 
action  is  invariably  reciprocal;  but  that  it  was  the  product  of  her 
own  conviction  that  she  must  thus  approximate  it.  So  "pos- 
sessed" was  he,  however,  by  his  pseudo-scientific  conception, 
that  the  true  significance  of  this  fact  entirely  escaped  him;  and 
although  he  considered  that  he  had  taken  adequate  precautions 
to  exclude  the  conversance  of  any  suggestion  of  which  his  "sen- 
sitives" should  be  conscious,  he  never  tried  the  one  test  which 
would  have  been  the  experimenlum  crucis  in  regard  to  all  the  sup- 
posed influences  of  magnets  —that  of  using  eleclro-magnels,  which 
could  be  "made"  and  "unmade"  by  completing  or  breaking  the 
electric  circuit,  without  any  indication  being  given  to  the  "sen- 
sitive" of  this  change  of  its  conditions.  And  the  same  remark 
applies  to  the  more  recent  statement  of  Lord  Lindsay,  as  to  Mr. 
Home's  recognition  of  the  position  of  a  permanent  magnet  in  a 
totally-darkened  room;  the  value  of  this  solitary  fact,  tor  which 
there  are  plenty  ot  ways  of  accounting,  never  having  been  tested 
by  the  use  of  an  electro-magnet,  whose  active  or  passive  condi- 
tion should  be  entirely  unknown,  not  only  to  Mr.  Home,  but  to 
every  person  present. 

That  "sensitives"  like  Von  Reichenbach's,  in  so  far  as  they  are 
not  intentional  deceivers  (which  many  hysterical  subjects  are 
constitutionally  prone  to  be),  can  feel,  see,  or  smell,  anything 
that  they  were  led  to  believe  that  they  would  feel,  see,  or  smell, 
was  soon  proved  by  the  experimental  inquiries  of  Mr.  Braid, 
many  of  which  I  myself  witnessed.    He  found  that  not  only  in 


MESMERISM,  ODTLISM,  TABLETUBKIXG.  ETC.  113 


bvsterical  girls,  but  in  many  men  and  women  ''of  a  highly- 
concentrative  and  imaginative  turn  of  mind,"  though  otherw'iso 
in  ordinary  health,  it  was  sufficient  to  fix  the  attention  on  any 
particular  form  of  expectonc?/— such  as  pricldng,  streaming,  heat, 
cold,  or  other  feelings,  in  any  part  of  the  body  over  which  a 
magnet  was  being  drawn  ;  luminous  emanations  from  the  poles 
of  a  magnet  in  the  dark,  in  some  cases  even  in  full  daylight;  or 
the  attraction  of  a  magnet  or  crystal  held  within  reach  of  tho 
hand — for  that  expectancy  to  be  fully  realized.  And,  conversely, 
the  same  sensations  were  equally  produced  when  the  subjects 
of  them  were  led  to  believe  that  the  same  agency  was  being  em- 
ployed, although  nothing  whatever  was  really  done  ;  the  saruo 
flames  being  seen  when  the  magnet  was  concealed  by  shutting 
it  in  a  box,  or  even  when  it  was  carried  out  of  the  room,  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  subject;  and  the  attraction  of  the  magnet 
for  the  hand  being  entirely  governed  by  the  idea  previously 
suggested,  positive  or  negative  results  being  thus  obtained  with 
either  pole,  as  Mr.  Braid  might  direct.  "I  know,"  he  says,  of 
one  of  his  subjects,  "that  this  lady  was  incapable  of  trying  to 
deceive  myself  or  others  present;  but  she  was  self-deceived  and 
spell-bound  by  the  predominance  of  a  preconceived  idea,  and 
was  not  less  surprised  at  the  varying  powers  of  the  instrument 
than  were  others  who  witnessed  the  results."* 

One  of  Mr.  Braid's  best  "subjects"  was  a  gentleman  residing 
in  Manchester,  well  known  for  his  high  intellectual  culture, 
great  general  ability,  and  strict  probity.  He  had  cuch  a  remark- 
able power  of  voluntary  abstraction  as  to  be  able  at  any  time  to 
induce  in  himself  a  state  akin  to  profound  reverie  (correspond- 
ing to  what  has  been  since  most  inappropriately  called  the 
"biological"),  in  which  he  became  so  completely  "possessed"  by 
any  idea  strongly  enforced  upon  him,  that  his  whole  state  of 
feeling  and  action  was  dominated  by  it.  Thus  it  was  sufficient 
for  him  to  place  his  hand  upon  the  table  and  fix  his  attention 
upon  it  for  half  a  minute,  to  be  entirely  unable  to  withdraw  it, 
if  assured  in  a  determined  tone  that  he  could  not  do  so.  When 
his  gaze  had  been  steadily  directed  for  a  short  time  to  the  poles 
of  a  magnet,  he  could  be  brought  to  see  flames  issuing  from 
♦  "The  Power  of  the  Mind  over  the  Body,"  1846,  p.  20, 


114  MESMERISM,  ODTLISM,  TABLE-TURXING,  ETC 


them  of  any  form  or  color  that  Mr.  Braid  chose  to  Dame.  And 
when  desired  to  place  his  hand  upon  one  of  the  poles,  and  to 
fix  his  attention  for  a  brief  period  upon  it,  the  peremptory  as- 
surance that  he  could  not  detach  it  w  as  sufficient  to  hold  it  there 
with  such  tenacity  that  I  saw  Mr.  Braid  drag  him  round  the 
room  in  a  way  that  reminded  me  of  George  Cruikshanlc's  amus- 
ing illustration  of  the  German  fairy-story  of  "The  Golden 
Goose."  The  attraction  was  dissolved  by  Mr.  Braid's  loud, 
cheery  "All  right,  man,"  which  brought  the  subject  back  to  his 
normal  condition,  as  suddenly  as  the  attraction  of  a  powerful 
electro-magnet  for  a  heavy  mass  of  iron  ceases  when  the  circuit 
is  broken. 

Now  the  phenomena  of  the  "biological"  condition  seem  to  me 
of  peculiar  significance,  in  relation  to  a  large  class  of  those 
which  are  claimed  as  manifestations  of  a  supposed  "spiritual" 
agency.  When  a  number  of  persons  of  that  "concentrative  and 
imaginative  turn  of  mind"  which  predisposes  them  to  the  "bio- 
logical" condition  sit  for  a  couple  of  hours  (especially  if  in  the 
dark)  with  the  expectation  of  some  extraordinary  occurrence — 
such  as  the  rising  ond  floating  in  the  air,  either  of  the  human 
body,  or  of  chairs  or  tables,  without  any  phj-sical  agency  ;  the 
crawling  of  live  lobsters  over  their  persons  ;  the  contact  of  the 
hands,  the  sound  of  the  voices,  or  the  visible  luminous  shapes, 
of  their  departed  friends— it  is  perfectly  conformable  to  scien- 
tific probability  that  they  should  pass  more  or  less  completely 
(like  Keichenbach's  "sensitives")  into  a  state  which  is  neither 
waking  nor  sleeping,  but  between  the  two,  in  which  they  see, 
hear,  or  feel,  by  touch,  anything  they  have  been  led  to  expect 
will  present  itself.  And  the  accordance  of  their  testimony,  in 
regard  to  such  occurrences,  is  only  such  as  is  produced  by  the 
community  of  the  dominant  idea  with  v.'hich  they  are  all  "  pos- 
sessed," a  community  of  which  historj'  furnishes  any  amount  of 
strangely-varied  exnmples.  And  thus  it  becomes  obvious  that 
the  testimony  of  a  single  cool-headed  skeptic,  who  asserts  that 
nothing  extraordinary  has  reidlj-  occurred,  should  be  accepted 
as  more  trustworthy  than  that  of  any  number  of  believers,  who 
have,  as  it  were,  created  the  sensorial  result  by  their  anticipa- 
tion of  it. 


MESMERISM,  ODYLISM,  TABLE-TURNING,  ETC.  115 


I  have  now  to  show  you  that  the  like  expectancy  can  also  pro- 
duce movements  of  \arious  kinds,  through  the  instrumentality 
of  the  nervo-rauscular  apparatus,  without  the  least  conscious- 
ness on  the  part  of  its  subject  of  his  being  himself  the  instru- 
ment of  their  performance;  a  physiological  fact  which  is  the  key 
to  the  whole  mystery  of  table-turning  and  table-talking.  I  very 
well  remember  the  prevalence  in  my  schoolboy  days  of  a  belief 
that,  when  a  ring,  a  button,  or  any  other  small  body,  suspended 
by  a  string  over  the  end  of  the  finger,  was  brought  near  the  out- 
side or  inside  of  a  glass  tumbler,  it  would  strike  the  hour  of  the 
day  against  its  surface;  and  the  experiment  certainly  succeeded 
in  the  hands  of  several  of  my  schoolfellows,  who  tried  it  in  all 
good  faith,  getting  up  in  the  middle  of  the  night  to  test  it,  in 
entire  ignorance,  as  they  declared,  of  the  real  time.  But,  as 
was  pointed  out  by  M.  Chevreul,  who  investigated  this  subject 
in  a  truly  scientific  spirit  more  than  forty  years  ago,  it  is  impos- 
sible by  any  voluntary  effort  to  keep  the  hand  absolutely  still 
for  a  length  of  time  in  the  position  required;  an  involuntary 
tremulousness  is  always  observable  in  the  suspended  body,  and 
if  the  attention  be  fixed  on  it  with  the  expectation  that  its  vibra- 
tions will  take  a  definite  direction,  they  are  very  likely  to  do  so. 
But  their  persistence  in  that  direction  is  found  to  last  only  so 
long  as  they  are  guided  by  the  sight  of  the  operator,  at  once  and 
entirely  losing  their  constancy  if  he  closes  or  turns  away  his 
eyes.  Thus  it  became  obvious  that,  in  the  striking  of  the  hour, 
the  influence  which  determines  the  number  of  strokes  is  really 
the  knowledge  or  suspicion  present  to  the  mind  of  the  operator, 
which  involuntarily  and  unconsciously  directs  the  action  of  his 
muscles;  and  the  same  rationale  was  applied  by  M.  Chevreul  to 
other  cases  in  which  this  pendule  explorateur  (the  use  of  which 
can  be  traced  back  to  a  very  remote  date),  has  been  appealed  to 
for  answers  to  questions  of  very  diverse  character. 

When,  liowever,  "Odyle"  came  to  the  front,  and  the  world 
of  curious  but  unscientific  inquirers  was  again  "possessed"  by 
the  idea  of  an  unknown  and  mysterious  agency,  capable  of 
manifesting  itself  in  an  unlimited  variety  of  ways,  the  pendule 
exploraieur  was  brought  into  vogue,  under  the  name  of  odometer^ 
by  Dr.  Herbert  Mayo,  who  investigated  its  action  with  a  gr«at 


116  MESMERISM,  ODTLISM,  TABLE-TURKING,  ETC. 


show  ot  scientific  precision  ;  starting,  however,  with  the  fore- 
gone conclusion  that  its  oscillations  w  ere  directed  by  the  hypo- 
thetical "  odyle,"  and  altogether  ignoring  the  mental  participa- 
tion of  the  operator,  whom  he  supposed  to  be  as  passive  as  a 
thermometer  or  a  balance.  By  a  series  of  elaborate  experiments, 
he  convinced  himself  that  the  direction  and  extent  ot  the  oscil- 
lations could  be  altered,  either  by  a  change  in  the  nature  of  the 
substances  placed  beneath  the  "odometer,"  or  by  the  contact  of 
the  hand  of  a  person  of  the  opposite  sex,  or  even  of  the  experi- 
menter's other  hand,  with  that  from  which  it  was  suspended. 
And  he  gradually  reduced  his  result  to  a  series  of  definite  laws, 
which  he  regarded  as  having  the  same  constancy  as  those  of 
physics  or  chemistry.  Unfortunately,  however,  other  experi- 
menters, who  worked  out  the  inquiry  with  similar  perseverance 
and  good  faith,  arrived  at  such  different  results,  that  it  soon 
came  to  be  obvious  that  what  astronomical  observers  call  the 
••personal  equation"  of  the  individual  has  a  very  large  share  in 
determining  them,  A  very  intelligent  medical  friend  of  my 
own,  then  residing  abroad,  wrote  m'e  long  letters  full  of  the  de- 
tailed results  of  his  own  inquiries,  on  which  he  was  anxious  for 
my  opinion.  My  reply  was  simply  :  "Shut  your  eyes,  or  turn 
them  away,  and  let  some  one  else  watch  the  oscillations  under 
the  conditions  you  have  specified,  and  record  their  results  ;  you 
will  find,  if  I  do  not  mistake,  that  they  will  then  show  an  entire 
want  of  the  constancy  you  have  hitherto  observed."  His  next 
letter  informed  me  that  such  proved  to  be  the  case;  so  that  he 
tad  come  entirely  to  agree  with  me  as  to  the  dependence  of  the 
previous  uniformity  of  his  results  on  his  own  expectancj'. 

A  very  amusing  «rpose  of  the  mystery  of  the  •'  magnetometer" 
resulted  from  its  application  by  Dr.  Madden,  an  homoeopathic 
physician  at  Brighton,  to  test  the  virtues  of  his  "  globules,"  as 
to  which  he  had,  of  course,  some  performed  conclusions  of  his 
own.  The  results  of  his  first  experiments  entirely  corresponded 
with  his  ideas  of  what  they  ought  to  be;  for  when  a  globule  of 
one  medicine  was  taken  into  his  disengaged  hand,  the  sus- 
pended ball  oscillated  longitudinally ;  and  when  this  globule 
was  changed  for  another  of  opposite  virtues,  the  direction  of  the 
oscillations  became  transverse.    Another  homoeopathio  physi- 


MESMERISM,  ODYLISM,  TABLE-TURNING.  ETC.  117 


cia,n,  however,  was  going  through  a  similar  course  of  experi- 
ments; and  his  results,  while  comformable  to  his  own  notions 
of  the  virtues  of  the  globules,  were  hy  no  means  accordant  with 
those  of  Dr.  Madden,  The  latter  was  thus  led  to  reinvestigate 
the  matter  with  a  precaution  he  had  omitted  in  the  first  instance; 
namely,  that  the  globules  should  be  placed  in  his  hand  by  an- 
other person,  without  any  hint  being  given  him  of  their  nature. 
From  the  moment  he  began  to  work  upon  this  plan,  the  whole 
aspect  of  the  subject  was  changed;  globules  that  produced  longi- 
tudinal oscillations  at  one  time  gave  transverse  at  another,  while 
globules  of  the  most  opposite  remedial  virtues  gave  no  sign  of 
difference.  And  thus  he  was  soon  led  to  the  conviction,  which 
he  avowed  with  a  candor  very  creditable  to  him,  that  the  system 
he  had  built  up  had  no  better  foundation  than  his  own  anticipa- 
tion of  what  tbe  results  of  each  experiment  should  be;  that  an- 
ticipation expressing  itself  unconsciously  in  involuntary  and 
iraperceiitible  movements  of  his  finger,  which  communicated  a 
rhythmetical  vibration  to  the  framework  when  the  oscillations  of 
the  ball  suspended  from  it  were  watched. 

Thus,  by  the  investigations  of  scientific  experts  who  were  alive 
to  the  sources  of  fallacy  which  the  introduction  of  the  human 
element  ahvays  brings  into  play,  the  hypothesis  of  odylic  force 
was  proved  to  be  rompletely  baseless;  the  phenomena  which 
were  supposed  to  indicate  its  existence  being  traceable  to  the 
physiological  conditions  of  the  human  organisms  through  whose 
instrumentality  they  were  manifested.  The  principle  that  the 
state  of  "  expectant  attention  "  is  capable  of  giving  rise  either  to 
sensations  or  to  involuntary  movements,  according  to  the  nature 
of  the  expect;incy,  had  been  previously  recognized  in  phj'siolo- 
gical  science,  .md  was  not  invented  for  the  occasion;  but  the 
phenomena  I  have  been  describing  to  you  are  among  its  most 

pregnant  instances." 

The  same  principle  furnishes  what  I  believe  to  be  the  true 
scientific  explanation  of  the  supposed  mystery  of  the  divining- 
rod,  often  used  where  water  is  scarce  for  the  discovery  of  springs, 
and  in  mining-districts  for  the  detection  of  metallic  veins. 
This  rod  is  a  forked  twig  shaped  like  the  letter  Y,  hazel 
being  usually  preferred;  and  the  diviner   walks  over  the 


118  MESMERISM,  ODYLISM,  TABLE- TURKim,  ETC. 


ground  to  be  explored,  firmly  grasping  its  two  prongs  with 
his  hands,  in  such  a  position  that  its  stem  points  forw^ard.  After 
a  time  the  end  of  the  stem  points  downward,  often,  it  is  said, 
with  a  sort  of  writhing  or  struggling  motion,  especially 
when  the  fork  is  tightly  grasped;  and  sometimes  it  even 
turns  backward,  so  as  to  point  toward  instead  of  away  from  the 
body  of  the  diviner.  Now,  there  is  a  very  large  body  of 
apparently  reliable  testimony,  that  when  the  ground  has 
been  opened  in  situations  thus  indicated,  either  water- 
springs  or  metallic  veins  have  been  found  beneath;  and  it  is 
quite  certain  that  the  existence  of  such  a  power  is  a  matter  of 
unquestioning  faith  on  the  part  of  large  numbers  of  intelligent 
persons  who  have  witnessed  what  they  believe  to  be  its  genuine 
manifestations.  This  subject,  however,  was  carefully  inquired 
into  more  than  forty  years  ago  by  MM.  Chevreul  and  Biot ;  and 
their  experimental  conclusions  anticipated  those  to  which  I  was 
myself  led  in  ignorance  of  them  by  physiological  reasoning. 
They  found  that  the  forked  twig  cannot  be  firmly  grasped  for  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  or  more  in  the  regulation  position,  without 
the  induction  of  a  state  of  muscular  tension,  which  at  lasts  dis- 
charges itself  in  movement  ;  and  this  acts  on  the  prongs  of  the 
fork  in  such  a  manner  as  to  cause  its  stem  to  point,  either  up- 
ward, downward,  or  to  one  side.  The  occasion  of  this  discharge 
and  the  direction  of  the  movement  are  greatly  influenced,  like 
the  oscillations  of  bodies  suspended  from  the  finger,  by  expect- 
ancy on  the  part  of  the  operator  ;  so  that  if  he  has  any  suspicion 
or  surmise  as  to  the  "whereabouts"  of  the  object  of  his  search, 
an  involuntary  and  unconscious  action  of  his  muscles  causes 
the  point  of  the  rod  to  dip  over  it. 

Again,  since  not  one  individual  in  forty,  in  the  localities  in 
which  the  virtues  of  the  divining-rod  are  still  held  as  an  article 
of  faith,  is  found  to  obtain  any  results  from  its  use,  it  becomes 
obvious  that  its  movements  must  be  due,  not  to  any  physical 
agency  directly  affecting  the  rod,  but  to  some  influence  exerted 
through  its  holder.  And  that  this  influence  is  his  expectation  of 
the  result  may,  I  think,  be  pretty  confidently  affirmed.  For  it 
has  been  clearly  sLown,  by  careful  and  repeated  experiments, 
that,  while  the  rod  dips  when  the  "  diviner  "  knows  or  believ«a 


MESMERISM  ODYLISM,  TABLE-TURNING.  ETC  119 


he  is  over  a  water-spring  or  a  metallic  vein,  the  results  are  un  - 
certain, contradictory,  or  simply  negative,  when  he  is  blind- 
folded, so  as  not  to  be  aware  precisely  where  he  is.  The  follow- 
ing is  a  striking  case  of  this  kind  that  has  been  lately  brought 
to  my  knowledge: 

"  A  friend  of  mine,"  says  Dr.  Beard,*  "  an  aged  clergyman,  of 

thorough  integrity  and  fairness,  has  for  many  years— the  larger 
part  of  his  natural  life,  I  believe — enjoyed  the  reputation  of 
being  especially  skilled  in  the  finding  of  places  to  dig  wells,  by 
means  of  a  divining-rod  of  witch-hazel,  or  the  fresh  branches  of 
apple  or  other  trees.  His  fame  has  spread  far,  and  the  accounts 
that  are  given  by  him  and  of  him  are,  to  those  who  think  human 
testimony  is  worth  anything,  overwhelmingly  convincing.  He 
consented  to  allow  me  to  experiment  with  him.  I  found  that 
only  a  few  momenta  were  required  to  prove  that  his  fancied  gift 
was  a  delusion,  and  could  be  explained  wholly  by  unconscious 
muscular  motion,  the  result  of  expectancy  and  coincidence.  In 
his  own  j^ard  there  was  known  to  be  a  stream  of  water  running 
through  a  small  pipe  a  few  feet  below  the  surface.  Marching 
over  and  near  this,  the  rod  continually  pointed  strongly  down- 
ward, and  several  times  turned  clear  over.  These  places  I 
marked,  blindfolded  him,  marched  him  about  until  he  knew  not 
where  he  was,  and  took  him  over  the  same  ground  over  and  over 
again;  and,  although  the  rod  went  down  a  number  of  times,  U 
did  not  once  point  to  or  near  the  places  previously  indicated. 

I  very  well  remember  having  heard,  some  thirty-five  years 
ago,  from  Mr.  Dilke  (the  grandfather  of-the  present  Sir  Charles), 
of  an  experiment  of  this  kind  which  he  had  himself  made  upon 
a  young  Portuguese,  who  had  come  to  him  with  a  letter  ot  in- 
troduction, describing  the  bearer  of  it  as  possessing  a  most  re- 
markable power  of  finding,  by  means  of  the  divining-rod,  metals 
concealed  from  view.  Mr.  Dilke's  family  being  at  a  summer 
residence  in  the  country,  his  plate  had  all  been  sent  to  his 
chamber."  in  the  Adelphi,  where  he  was  visited  by  the  Portu- 
guese youth;  to  whom  he  said,  "Go  about  the  room  with  your 
rod,  and  try  if  you  can  find  any  mass  of  metal."  The  youth  did 
so;  and  his  rod  dipped  over  a  large  standing  desk,  in  which 
Mr.  Dilke's  plate  had  been  temporarily  lodged.  Seeing,  how- 
ever, that  there  were  circumstances  which  might  reasonably  sug- 
gest this  guess,  Mr.  Dilke  asked  the  youth  if  he  was  willing  to 

*  Eevieio  of  Modicine  and  Pharmacy  (New  York),  September,  1875. 


1-20  MESMERISM,  ODTLISM,  TABLE- TVBmm,  ETC 


nllow  his  divining  power  to  be  tested  under  conditions  which 
should  exclude  all  such  suggestion  ;  and,  having  received  a 
ready  assent,  he  took  his  measures  accordingly.  Taking  his 
plate-box  down  to  his  country  residence,  he  secretly  buried  it 
just  beneath  the  soil  in  a  ncAvly-ploughed  field;  selecting  a  spot 
which  he  could  identify  by  cross-bearings  of  conspicuous  trees, 
and  getting  a  plough  drawn  again  over  its  surface,  so  as  to  make 
this  correspond  precisely  with  that  of  the  rest  of  the  field.  The 
young  diviner  was  then  summoned  from  London,  and  chal- 
lenged to  find  beneath  the  soil  of  this  field  the  very  same  i)late 
which  he  h^d  previously  detected  in  Mr.  Dilke's  desk  at  the 
Adelphi  ;  but,  having  nothing  whatever  to  guide  him  even  to  a 
guess,  he  was  completely  at  fault.  Mr.  Dilke's  impression  was 
that  he  was  not  an  impostor,  but  a  sincere  believer  in  his  own 
power,  as  the  "  dowsers"  of  mining-districts  seem  unquestion- 
ably to  be.  The  test  of  blindfolding  the  diviner,  and  then 
leading  him  about  in  different  directions,  so  as  to  put  him  com- 
pletely at  fault  in  regard  to  his  locality,  is  ono  that  can  be  very 
readil}''  applied,  when  the  diviner  is  acting  in  good  faith  ;  but, 
as  I  shall  show  you  in  the  next  lecture,  it  requires  very  special 
precautions  to  blindfold  a  person  who  is  determined  to  see  ; 
and,  in  some  of  the  cases  which  seem  to  have  stood  this  test,  it 
seems  not  improbable  that  vision  was  not  altogether  pre- 
cluded. 

An  additional  reason  for  attributing  the  action  of  the  divin- 
ing-rcd  to  the  muscular  movements  called  forth  by  a  state  of 
expectancy  (perhaps  not  always  consciously  entertained)  on  the 
part  of  the  performer  seems  to  me  to  be  furnished  by  the  di- 
versity of  the  powers  that  have  been  attributed  to  it  ;  such  as 
that  of  identifying  murderers  and  indicating  the  direction  of 
their  flight,  discovering  the  lost  boundaries  of  lands,  detecting 
the  birthplace  and  parentage  of  foundlings,  etc.  The  older 
writers  do  not  in  the  least  call  in  question  the  reality  of  the  pow- 
ers of  the  hazel-fork,  but  learnedly  discuss  whether  they  are  due 
to  natural  or  to  diabolic  agency.  "When  in  the  last  century 
the  phenomena  of  electricity  and  magnetism  became  objects  of 
scientific  study,  but  had  not  yet  been  comprehended  under  the 
grasp  of  law,  it  was  natural  that  those  of  the  divining-rod 


MESMERISM,  ODYLISM,  TABLE-TUB  NINO,  ETC.  121 


should  be  referred  to  agencies  so  convenient,  which  seemed 
ready  to  account  for  anything  otherwise  unaccountable,  But, 
eince  physicists  and  physiologists  have  come  to  agree  that  the 
moving  power  is  furnished  by  nothing  else  than  the  muscles  of 
the  diviner,  the  only  question  th:;t  remains  is,  What  calls  forth 
its  exercise?  And  the  conclusive  evidence  I  have  given  you  that 
the  definite  oscillations  of  suspended  bodies  depend  on  invol- 
untary movements  unconsciously  determined  by  states  of  expect- 
ancy, clearly  points  to  the  conclusion  that  we  have  in  the  sup- 
posed mystery  of  the  divining-rod  only  another  case  of  the  same 
kind.  It  is  well  known  that  persons  who  are  conversant  with 
the  geological  structure  of  a  distiict  are  often  able  to  indicate 
with  considerable  certainty  in  what  spot,  and  at  what  depth, 
water  will  be  found;  and  men  of  less  scientific  knowledge,  but 
of  considerable  practical  experience,  frequently  arrive  at  a  true 
conclusion  on  this  point,  without  being  able  to  assign  reasons 
for  their  opinions.  Exactly  the  same  maybe  said  in  regard  to 
the  mineral  structure  of  a  mining-district ;  the  course  of  a 
metallic  vein  being  often  correctly  indicated  by  the  shrewd 
guess  of  an  observant  workman,  where  the  scientific  re- 
asoning of  the  mining-engineer  altogether  fails.  It  is  an 
experience  we  are  continually  encountering  in  other  walks  of 
life,  that  particular  persons  are  guided,  some  apparently  by  an 
original  and  others  by  an  acquired  intuition,  to  conclusions  for 
which  they  can  give  no  adequate  reasons,  but  which  subsequent 
events  prove  to  have  been  correct;  and  I  look  upon  the  divining- 
rod  in  its  various  applications  as  only  a  peculiar  method  of  giving 
expression  to  results  worked  out  by  an  automatic  process  of  this 
kind,  even  before  they  rise  to  distinct  mental  consciousness. 
Various  other  methods  of  divination  that  seem  to  be  practised  in 
perfectly  good  faith — such,  for  example,  as  the  Bible  and  key 
test,  used  for  the  discovery  of  stolen  property— are  probably  to 
be  attributed  to  the  same  agency ;  the  cerebral  traces  of  past  oc- 
curences supplying  materials  for  the  automatic  evolution  of  a 
result  (as  they  unquestionably  do  in  dreams)  when  the  occur- 
ences themselves  have  been  forgotten. 

Many  of  the  cases  of  so-called  thought-reading  are  clearly  of 
th«  same  kind;  the  communication  being  made  by  unconscious 


122 


mCElPT  FOB  SUMMONING  SPIRITS, 


muscular  action  on  the  part  of  one  person,  and  automatically 
interpreted  by  tlie  other— as  in  the  following  instance:  Several 
persons  being  assembled,  one  of  them  leaves  the  room,  and 
during  his  absence  some  object  is  hidden.  On  the  absentee's 
re-entrance,  two  persons,  who  know  the  hiding-place,  stand  one 
on  either  side  of  him,  and  establish  some  personal  contact  with 
him;  one  method  being  for  each  to  place  a  finger  on  his 
shoulder,  and  another  for  each  to  place  a  hand  on  his  body,  one 
on  the  front  and  the  other  on  the  back.  He  walks  about  the 
room  between  the  two,  and  generally  succeeds  before  long  in 
finding  the  hidden  object;  being  led  toward  it  (as  careful  ob- 
servation and  experiment  have  fully  proved)  by  the  involuntary 
muscular  action  of  his  unconscious  guides,  one  or  the  other  of 
them  pressing  more  heavily  when  the  object  is  on  his  side,  And 
the  finder  as  involuntarily  turning  toward  that  side. 

These  and  other  curious  results  of  recent  inquiry,  while 
strictly  comformable  to  physiological  principles,  greatly  extend 
our  knowledge  of  the  modes  in  which  states  of  mind  express 
themselves  unconsciously  and  involuntarily  in  muscular  action; 
and  I  dwell  on  them  the  more  because  they  seem  to  me  to  afford 
the  key  (as  I  shall  explain  in  my  next  lecture)  to  some  of  these 
phenomena  of  spiritualistic  divination,  which  have  been  most 
perplexing  to  many  who  have  come  in  contact  with  them,  with- 
out being  disposed  to  accept  the  spiritualistic  interpretation  of 
them. 


MOHAMMEDAN  RECEIPT  FOR  SUMMONING  SPIRITS. 

Fast  seven  days  in  a  lonely  place,  and  take  incense  with  you, 
such  as  benzoin,  aloeswood,  mastic,  and  odorif  erous  wood  from 
Soudan,  and  read  the  Chapter  1001  times  (from  the  Koran)  in 
the  seven  days — a  certain  number  of  readings,  namely,  for 
everyone  of  the  five  daily  prayers.  That  is  the  secret,  and  you 
will  see  indescribale  wonders;  drums  will  be  beaten  beside  you, 
and  flags  hoisted  over  your  head,  and  you  will  see  spirits  full 
of  light  and  of  beautiful  nnd  benign  aspect— "  Upper  Egypt; 
its  people  and  products,"  by  Dr.  Klunzinger,  p.  386. 

An  acquaintance  of  hi=?,  who  had  undergone  the  course  of  self- 
mortification,  said  that  he  really  saw  all  kinds  of  horrible  forms 
in  his  magic  circle,  but  he  saw  them  also  when  his  eyes  were 
shut    At  last  he  got  quite  terrified  and  left  the  place. 


123 


INTEODUCTOEY. 


Notwithstanding  that  mesmerism  Is  denounced  as  a  "  Modem 
Humbug,  "  appearing  from  time  to  time  under  the  different  names 
of  "Animal  Magnetism,"  "  Statuvolism, "  "Artificial  Sonambul- 
ism,"  "Pathetism,"  "Hypnotism,"  "Biology,"  "Psychology," 
"Clairvoyance,"  "Trance,"  etc.,  etc.;  yet  we  find  by  searching 
the  annals  of  the  past,  that  its  principles  have  been  well  known  in 
ages  long  gone  by,  though  enshrouded  in  mystery  and  supersti- 
tion. 

That  the  Heathen  Magi  of  India  possessed  a  knowledge  of  the 
method  of  producing  the  mesmeric  sleep,  is  quite  evident  from  the 
images  of  the  gods  of  India,  which  may  be  seen  even  to  this  day. 
Chiven,  Vichenow,  Parachiven,  and  many  others,  have  an  extraor- 
dinary number  of  arms,  all  presenting  the  hands  open,  with  palms 
inclining  downwards,  and  with  fingers  in  the  very  best  possible  po- 
sition for  successful  fascination.  It  is  not  unreasonable  to  suppose 
that  the  divine  honors  paid  to  heathen  gods  were  originally  con- 
ferred on  men  of  high  renown  and  fame,  for  being  possessed  of 
unusual  magnetic  powers,  such  powers  being  symbolized  by  num- 
erous additional  arms  and  hands.  It  was  supposed  that  the  Cadit- 
ceus  of  Mercury  possessed  the  power  of  putting  any  one  whom  it 
touched  to  sleep.  He  used  it  to  deepen  the  slumbers  of  Argus, 
after  having  lulled  him  to  sleep  with  the  music  of  his  lyre.  A  pas- 
sage in  Piautus  makes  him  say  of  Sosia,  "  What  if  I  stroke  him 
gently  with  the  hand,  so  as  to  put  him  to  sleep."  This  goes  to  show 
that  the  use  of  the  "  Caducevs  "  was  sometimes  dispensed  with  in 
the  operation  of  inducing  sleep.  The  priests  of  Egypt  made  the 
knowledge  of  the  secret,  the  last  and  holiest  rite  of  their  ancient 
magic,  in  the  initiation  of  their  candidates,  and  they  made  great 
use  of  fascination  in  the  cure  of  diseases.  The  well-known  record  in 
the  Scriptures,  where  the  psalmist  David,  in  his  old  age,  had  his 
days  lengthened  out,  by  deriving  a  fresh  supply  of  life  from  the 
physical  and  ner^'ous  system  of  the  young  damsel  who  was  com- 
manded to  share  his  couch,  is  an  instance  of  the  operation  of 
a  natural  law  which  is  often  ridiculed  at  the  present  day.  There 


184 


utteoductoet. 


might  be  many  instances  given,  where  the  systems  of  the  super- 
annuated are  built  up  at  the  expense  of  the  health  of  their  young 
bed-mates.  It  used  to  be  a  practice  among  the  natives  of  some  of 
the  Pacific  Islands,  to  relieve  weariness  and  exhaustion  by  pat- 
ting the  tired  one,  a  process  which  resulted  in  a  complete  restora- 
tion of  physical  energ}'.  Even  the  gestures  and  motions,  incanta- 
tions and  mummeries  of  an  Indian  "pow-wow,"  are  intimately  de- 
pendent on  the  efficacy  of  magnetism  for  the  desired  result — aided, 
no  doubt,  by  the  excited  imagination  of  the  patient  operated  upon. 
St.  Gregory,  Bishop  of  Tours,  tells  us  of  the  efficacy  of  pilgrimages 
to  the  tombs  of  saints.  He  says  :  "  Any  person  filled  with  faith, 
coming  near  the  tombs  and  praying  will  be  speedily  cured  of 
whatever  illness  may  befall  them.  Some  affirm  that  the  saints 
appear  to  them  in  the  night,  during  their  dreams,  and  reveal  the 
proper  remedies. "  Protogene,  St.  Martin,  St.  Fortunatus,  and 
many  others,  give  similar  testimony.  Fabricius,  in  speaking  of 
the  practice  of  the  country  people,  who  went  to  the  Church  of  St. 
Anthony,  of  Padua,  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  salutary  visions 
during  their  sleep,  says:  "This  exactly  resembles  the  ancient 
pagan  worship ;  and,  in  truth,  even  at  the  present  day,  the  churches 
of  the  saints  are  resorted  to,  to  receive  the  same  kind  of  revela- 
tions for  curing  diseases."  The  Queen  of  Navarre,  while  l3'ing  at 
Metz,  at  the  point  of  death,  described  the  battle  of  Jarnac  in  every 
minute  particular;  told  of  her  sons  victory;  the  death  of  the 
Prince  of  Conde,  and  the  enemy's  flight;  all  of  which  was  soon 
afterwards  confirmed.  This  instance  of  clairvoyant  vision  is  as 
well  attested  as  that  of  Emanuel  Swedenborg,  who  saw  a  city 
burning,  while  eighty  miles  distant,  and  described  the  progress  of 
the  fire  to  the  surrounding  by-standers.  Cardanus,  in  1501,  per- 
formed man}'  great  cures  by  fascination.  He  could  go  into  the 
state  at  will  and  could  wake  when  he  chose,  and  while  in  the 
state  cured  himself  of  slight  attacks  of  the  gout,  prescribed  reme- 
dies, saw  objects  at  a  great  distance,  and  foretold  future  events 
with  correctness.  For  all  this  he  was  imprisoned  as  a  sorcerer  at 
Bologna,  though  he  only  claimed  that  nature  had  endowed  him 
thus  strangely.  In  1679,  William  Maxwell,  an  Englishman,  laid 
down  propositions  similar  to  those  afterwards  promulgated  by 
Mesmer.  In  the  seventeenth  century,  there  appeared  in  England 
a  Dr.  Streper  Levret,  an  Irish  gentleman,  and  also  Valentine 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


Greatrakes,  who  professed  to  cure  diseases  by  stroking  with  the 
hands.  Greatrakes,  who  was  a  very  pious  man,  felt  impressed,  he 
said,  to  lay  hands  on  cases  of  ague,  and  afterwards  to  treat  all 
kinds  of  diseases.  "  I  laid  hands  on  all  that  came,"  said  he,  "and 
many  were  cured  and  some  were  not."  The  Eoyal  Society  exam- 
ined into  the  mystery  and  accounted  for  the  phenomena  by  sup- 
posing that  there  existed  a  "Sanative  Contagion  in  Mr.  Great- 
rake's  body,  which  had  an  antipathy  to  some  particular  diseases 
and  not  to  others."  Truly  a  sage  conclusion.  The  science  was 
first  made  widely  manifest  in  Europe,  about  the  close  of  our  Revo- 
lutionary War  by  Dr.  Anton  Mesmer,  and  though  he  was  by  no 
means  the  first  who  applied  it  to  the  cure  of  disease,  yet  to  him  is 
undoubtedly  due  the  credit  of  its  revival,  and  hence  it  is  usually 
called  mesmerism,  in  his  honor.  Mesmer  was  born  in  1734,  at  Mers- 
burg,  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Constance,  and  died  in  1815.  When 
42  years  old,  he  took  the  degree  of  doctor  of  medicine  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vienna.  It  is  said  that  the  Professor  of  Astronomy  at 
Vienna  had  invented  a  peculiar  form  of  magnetized  steel  plates 
which  he  applied  successfully  to  the  cure  of  diseases.  Mesmer 
obtained  these  magnets  from  the  astronomer  and  applied  them  in 
his  own  way,  and  soon  found  out  that  the  efficacy  was  not  in  the 
form  of  the  plates,  but  in  the  manipulations  ;  that  the  peculiar  mode 
of  using  them  to  insure  success  was  in  making  passes,  as  they  are 
now  called.  A  quarrel  sprung  up,  and  the  final  result  was  that 
Mesmer  was  obliged  to  leave  Vienna,  and  in  1778,  he  arrived  at 
Paris,  whither  his  popularity  preceded  him.  So  great  became  his 
success,  that  the  French  Government  took  up  the  matter  and  of- 
fered him  a  large  annual  income,  if  he  would  unfold  his  secret. 
This  proposition  Mesmer  rejected,  though  he  sold  the  secret  to  in- 
dividuals, requiring  them  to  pledge  themselves  not  to  reveal  his 
instructions.  After  many  vicissitudes,  the  sum  of  £14,000  was 
raised  by  his  disciples,  whom  he  had  instructed,  but  whom  he  did 
not  consider  entitled  to  practice  it  publicly.  Mesmer  used  a  box 
filled  with  iron  filings  and  pounded  glass.  A  cord  was  passed 
around  the  bodies  of  the  subjects,  connecting  them  with  one 
another,  a  piano-forte  was  used,  and  a  rod  of  iron  was  held  by  the 
magnetizer  while  making  the  passes.  Some  of  the  patients  M^ere 
tranquil ;  some  were  affected  by  coughing  and  spitting ;  others 
were  troubled  with  slight  pains,  universal  heats  and  perspiration ; 


128 


INTRODUCTORY. 


others  were  terribly  agitated  and  tortured  with  convulsions.  Some 
of  these  convulsions  were  extraordinary  in  number,  duration,  and 
severity,  and  were  often  accompanied  with  spasms  of  the  throat 
and  wandering  motions  of  the  eyes,  to  which  were  added,  piercing 
shrieks,  weeping,  immoderate  laughter  and  hiccough.  In  view  of 
these  absurd  preparations  and  unnecessary  manifestations,  it  is 
hardly  to  be  wondered  that  the  Committee  of  Investigation  ap- 
pointed by  the  French  Academy  of  Science  and  Medicine,  reported 
in  language  lilie  this :  "In  conclusion,  as  most  of  the  patients 
were  of  a  nervous  temperament,  we  have  thought  that  the  whole 
thing  may  be  explained  by  referring  the  whole  matter  to  the  power 
of  the  imagination,  as  this  power  has  no  limit."  This  conclusion, 
however  satisfactory  to  themselves,  was  like  "jumping  out  of  the 
frying-pan  into  the  fire."  One  of  Mesmer's  pupils,  the  Marquis 
De  Puyseger,  retired  to  his  estate  in  the  country,  to  heal  the  sick, 
and  there  he  made  the  discovery  of  "Clairvoyance."  Up  to  this 
time  all  the  operators  had  used  steel  rods,  according  to  Mesmer's 
instructions.  When  the  clairvoyant  was  asked  where  the  magne- 
tizing influence  came  from,  he  replied:  "  From  your  hands,  from 
your  eyes,  from  all  parts  of  your  bodies."  He  was  then  asked,  what 
was  the  use  of  the  metallic  rods.  "  They  are  of  no  use  at  all ;"  so 
they  were  discarded.  About  the  year  1810,  a  Yankee  from  Con- 
necticut, named  Perkins,  probably  following  the  idea  suggested  by 
galvanism,  made  a  forked  instrument  from  diiTerent  metals,  and 
called  it  a  "  Tractor."  This  was  passed  over  portions  of  the  hu- 
man body  affected  by  disease,  and  in  a  great  many  cases  the  opera- 
tion was  followed  by  relief.  He  went  over  to  England  and  se- 
cured the  introduction  of  his  "Tractors"  in  the  hospitals,  and  the 
'*  Friends"  built  an  establishment  in  London,  for  the  gratuitious 
use  of  them  for  the  afflicted.  After  a  while,  a  Dr.  Haygarth  made 
an  imitation  "Tractor"  of  wood,  and  cured  a  rheumatic  patient 
with  its  use,  and  then  he  proclaimed  that  the  whole  matter  was 
the  result  of  imagination,  and  every  body  believed  him.  However, 
there  was  no  denying  the  fact  that  cures  were  effected,  which  set 
thinking  men  to  work  at  experimenting,  and  as  one  theory  after 
another  was  exploded,  fact  was  added  to  fact,  and  the  truth  of  the 
science  was  gradually  brought  to  light,  through  patience  and  per- 
severance. 


THE  PEACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


127 


"  Natare  hears  bat  one  kind  of  questions— they  are  experiments.  H«f 
answer  is  phenomena."— Liebig. 


CHAPTER  FIRST. 

FACTS  FOR  THE  UNBELIEVERS. 

In  presenting  this  little  work  to  the  public  we  feel  that 
we  arc  supplying  a  wjint  tliat  lias  been  lung  felt  by  those 
who  have  niade  a  study  of  the  subject  of  Animal  Mag- 
netism, or  Mesmerism,  as  it  is  commonly  called.  Hereto- 
fore it  has  been  necessary  to  buy  a  groat  deal  of  b  )ok  in 
order  to  get  a  small  amount  of  practical  infortnatiou  on 
the  subject  under  consideration,  and  it  is  to  obviate  this 
diflSculty  that  this  work  has  been  written  and  sent  forth 
on  its  mission. 

We  will  first  direct  our  attention  to  those  individuals 
who  have  no  faith  in  Mesmerism,  and  believe  it  all  a  hum- 
bug because  so  unreasonable.  Dear  friends,  will  yru  be 
so  kind  as  to  explain  how  it  is  that  electricity,  one  of  the 
most  subtile  elements  in  nature,  is  capable  of  producing 
such  stupendous  results  ?  It  dashes  tlie  tall  oak  to  splint- 
ers here,  fires  a  house  there,  destroys  life,  both  vegetable 
and  animal,  and  yet  man  has  bridled  it,  and  has  made 
it  the  world's  messenger.  You  know  these  things  arc 
true,  for  you  have  seen  and  heard  ;  but  can  you  explain 
the  why  and  wherefore  ?  Until  you  can,  do  not  denounce 
what  thousands  upon  thousands  have  seen  and  felt  and  do 
testify  to.  Permit  us  to  cull  your  attention  to  a  few 
familiar  facts  which  have  a  direct  bearing  on  our  subject, 
that  you  may  try  your  skill  in  explaining  every-day  mys- 
teries.   To  begin  wiih  : 

It  is  a  well  established  fact  that  serpents  possess  the 
ability  to  charm  birds  by  using  some  mysterious  power  to 
fascinate  them  and  cause  tliem  to  become  the  victims  of 
the  charmer.  Many  a  person  whose  integrity  cannot  be 
questioned,  has  testified  to  this  strange  fact.    Cats  possess 


128 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


llie  same  power  as  serpents,  though  perhaps  in  a  less 
dcfrree. 

Wo  know  of  one  niosmerizer  who  so  cliarmed  a  bird  that 
he  w:is  enabled  lo  catcli  it,  tiioiig'h  it  was  a  work  lasting 
three  hours.  Another  operator  so  completely  magnetized 
a  cat  tliat  it  was  in  vain  that  its  niisirOv-s  called  it;  it 
heeded  not,  fur  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  operator,  who, 
by  the  way,  was  a  stranorer  to  the  family.  There  is  a 
method  of  stopping  the  flow  of  blood,  which  is  nmch 
practiced  tlirouj;hotit  the  land,  which  consists  in  the  re- 
peating of  tlie  bleed  ng  person's  name  in  connection  with 
a  certain  verse  in  the  book  of  Ezekiel.  This  is  done 
several  limes,  and,  as  a  general  rule,  ti»e  bleeding  soon 
ceases.  Knowitig  that  the  principle  of  mesmerism  was 
the  secret  of  the  whole  matter,  we  have  frequently  stopped 
bleeding  of  the  nose  by  simply  fixing  our  minds  on  the 
afflicted  one  and  willing  resolutely  for  the  bleeding  to 
stop.  One  of  our  pupils,  who  had  taken  lessons  in  mag- 
netism from  us,  was  enabled  to  stop  a  serious  bleeding 
resuliing  from  a  cut  received  by  his  brother,  by  willing  it 
to  slop,  according  to  the  instructions  we  had  given  him. 

Another  mysterious  matter  we  will  speak  about  is  what 
is  denominated  "Mind  Reading" — a  subject  which  has 
attracted  considerable  attention  in  the  newspapers  of  late. 
It  is  performed  in  this  way  :  The  operator,  or  medium,  is 
blindtolded,  while  some  other  person  in  the  room  secretes 
some  object — a  knife,  ribbon,  or  handkerchief*  Then  the 
mediun)  takes  the  hand  of  the  person  who  hid  the  object, 
and  presses  it  against  his  (the  medium's)  forehead,  keep- 
ing it  there.  The  one  who  hid  the  object  must  keep  his 
mind  fixed  firmly  on  the  secreted  article,  and  resolve  men- 
tally to  go  towards  it,  ^et  at  the  same  time  making  not  the 
least  muscular  movement  that  would  indicate  tiie  direction 
of  his  thoughts.  The  medium  will  feel  an  indescribable 
"  drawing"  sensation  f  om  the  hand  he  holds  against  his 
forehead,  and  by  following  the  indications  of  the  "  draw- 
ing"" he  will  be  enabled  to  lead  the  owner  of  the  hand 


THE  PBACTICAL  CLAIBVOYANT. 


12V 


direcfly  to  llio  object.  In  ma  iy  cases  much  flcpends  on 
closely  f(;l!()vvini;'  tin;  iiisinicti  iiis  wo  liavc  g'iven.  This 
expcriirKMit  is  often  resorti  d  t'>  I'y  young  1<  Iks  as  a  moans 
of  passing  time  awny,  and  affording*  amusemeiil  at  social 
gatherings.  Tli ;  cliarming  .M\v:iy  of  wnris,  tuni  trs,  and 
various  di>cas(.'S,  is  doubtless  cn'cctivo  from  llic  K;imo  cause 
as  stopping  ilio  fl>)\v  of  blood,  assisted  very  mucli  in  some 
cas  s  by  t!ie  iuKigiii  it  on.  You  may  suiilo  at  tlic  word 
imagination,  but  Iheio  is  a  great  power  in  it,  as  all  must 
admit.  Tell  a  young  l.idy  .-.t  the  tibliilli;it  slio  Iims  just 
Bw.dlowc  1  a  lly  ill  her  soup,  and  wc  \v.)uld  know  what  the 
iiause  .ting  icsult  wou  d  be,  altiiough  th(?  infornjution 
mioht  bo  uiterly  f.dse.  Make  a  very  scn-itive  indiviJu  il 
believe  t'  at  ho  Ins  slept  duiing  the  pa<t  night  in  llie  bed 
of  a  c' olera  patimt,  and  t'sc  icsult  wou  d  be  serious,  if 
noi  f'iital.    Imaginaiioii  is  not  a  hmnbng  by  uny  mcaiM. 

'i'he  oft-rei  eate  I  saying  <  f,  ''Spe.ik  of  t':e  devd  and  he 
will  nppear,"  and  others  of  sbuilar  import,  have  ihcir  orijrin 
in  t  e  iaet  th  it  a  person's  appronching  prenence  is  fclr, 
even  before  lu  makes  his  appearance.  Innmnerabio  in- 
stances mi;;ht  be  jiivcn  where  tiKJUghts  <jf  the  absent 
thrust  thcms(dves  on  the  ndnd  very  abruptly,  an^l  were 
followed  by  the  unexpected  appearance  of  the  subject  of 
tho  e  thoughts.  Ttiese  occurrences  are  S)  common  that 
they  have  long  since  ceased  lo  at'ract  attention. 

AVe  wid  mention  another  mysb-rious  experiment  that  is 
easily  perfoi  m*  d.  l>et  a  young  man  prostrate  himself  on 
the  floor,  or  ground,  lying  on  h  s  back,  with  arms  by  his 
sides.  Then  let  f  ur  or  six  other  peisons  stand  by  the  re- 
cumbent one,  two  or  three  on  each  side,  and  stooping, 
plactt  the  tips  of  their  lingers  under  the  prostrate  man,  as 
if  to  Mt  him.  Now  all  must  draw  iii  their  breath  in  con- 
cert, ai  d  exp(l  it  in  like  manner,  and  aft«  r  repeating  the 
united  breathing  three  or  iour  tim(\s  the  lungs  of  all  are 
fdled  oni  e  more  in  com  ei  t,  and  at  the  very  moment  of  the 
fu  lest  inspiration  all  suddeidy  lift  their  burd(,'n  with  their 
finger-tips,  and  the  man  will  be  tossed  up  in  the  air  as 


130 


THE  PEACTICAL  CLAIEVOYANT. 


lightly  as  a  fcathor,  and  no  mistake.  Remember  that  all 
must  breathe  together,  and  all  must  1  ft  together  at  the 
exact  moment  of  fullest  breach.  It  is  bc-t  to  have  some 
by.^tander  couni  re^Aulaily,  ro  that  all  may  act  together  in 
accordance  with  his  signals.  If  these  directions  are 
faithlully  oh>ei  \^ed  you  wid  b(;  lUteily  astonished  at  the 
apparent  lightness  of  the  person  tilled. 

Wo  ail  leinend^er  what  an  excitement  was  created  a  few 
years  ago  by  that  wonclerl'nl  little  "  Planch ette,"  which 
was  first  introduced  to  the  juiblic  by  the  publishers  of  this 
book.  Seemingly  on'y  a  "  heai t-i-haped"  piece  of  wood, 
with  only  iwo  legs,  the  third  being  formed  by  a  sharpened 
lead  pencil. 


Planchette  at  work. 


If  this  little  tripod  be  placed  on  a  blank  sheet  of  print- 
ing paper,  and  the  fmgers  of  on »  or  more  persons  be  laid 
very  li.Li htly  np')n  it,  in  a  short  lime  the  connection  will  be 
established  and  it  will  begin  1o  move,  carry  iig  the  fingers 
with  ir.  Great  care  must  be  taken  not  to  influence  the 
motion  of  th-j  "  plancliettu"  in  the  least  by  any  muscular 
action  of  the  fingers.  At  first  the  m  »V(Miients  will  be  in- 
definite, in  curves  and  eircles,  but  after  a  while  it  will 
begin  to  write  ''yes"  and  "  no"  in  answer  to  leading  ques- 
tions. In  tiic  course  of  repeated  trials,  answers  of  all 
kinds  Will  be  rec(  ived,  both  s(a'ious,  solemn,  and  trnthftil. 
For  some  persons  "plunchettc"  will  not  move  at  all;  for 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


131 


others  of  peculiar  organization  it  will  move  freely  in  from 
one  t)  twenty  minutes.  Sometimes,  if  several  will  place 
their  fingers  on  it  at  once,  it  will  move  readily  for  them, 
although  it  relusea  to  make  any  motion  lor  any  of  ihem 
6ini>ly.  M  my  persons  have  received  wonderfnl  revelations 
from  the  liitle  tripod.  We  have  known  it  to  write  out 
answers  in  accordance  with  the  mental  dictation  of  a  by- 
stander. The  operators,  who  were  asking  the  questions, 
were  much  chagrined  at  the  apparently  irrelevant  answers, 
but  were  compelled  to  acknf)wle'l^e  the  joke  when  the  by- 
slander  explained  how  he.  had  brought  his  will  power  to 
bear  in  making  "  planchette"  answer  as  he  desired. 

We  wdl  leave  this  phase  of  magnetic  phenomena  and 
return  to  everyday  matters  ngiin.  The  power  of  the 
human  eye  over  the  brute  creation  is  undoubtedly  the  re- 
sult, in  part  at  least,  of  a  mesmeric  influence.  You  can 
h  irdiy  get  a  dog  to  look  you  in  the  eye  for  more  than  a  few 
seconds,  if  you  fix  your  gaze  st'^adfastly  in  return.  If  you 
are  in  danger  of  being  bitten  by  a  dog  at  any  time,  keep 
cool  if  3^>ii  can,  and  look  resolnt»*ly  in  the  eyes  of  tlie 
brute,  and  bring  all  your  powers  of  concentration  to  bear 
in  willing  him  to  keep  away  from  3'ou.  M  my  dogs  will 
turn  away  and  walk  off  on  being  treated  tliiis,  but.  nov7 
and  then  yon  will  come  across  a  cur  who  is  only  Mibject  to 
the  intluence  while  your  eye^  arc  (ixed  upon  him  ;  tne  mo- 
ment the  gaze  is  withdrawn  the  brute  is  ready  to  advance 
again. 

It  is  said  by  many  who  prof(3ss  to  have  the  power  to 
ch arm  away  diseases  by  a  j  irgon  of  incantations,  t'aat 
they  dare  not  give  tln-ir  information  to  those  of  opposite 
sex,  for  in  s  >  doing  ihey  will  lose  th )  power  themstdves. 
This  is  quite  trne,  f(jr  wlien  they  b.'lieve  they  hive  lost 
their  pow<'r,  their  confiilence  is  gone,  iin  l  they  can  do  but 
little  or  nothing.  But  let  t-u«*h  persons  un  lerstand  the 
prineiph's  of  mes  ne  ism,  and  th  y  will  fi  id  tint  their 
"  peeping  and  mntte  ing"  is  cniir.  ly  superfluous  and  may 
be  dispensed  with.    The  peculiar  pcsychoiogicul  powers  of 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYAirr. 


which  wc  treat  are  exercscd  a  great  deal  in  the  world, 
even  unconsciously.  Tli(3  l  iwyor  who  appeals  to  the  j<ny; 
the  preaclier  who  is  a  snccess'ul  revivalist;  the  peddler 
wlio  disposes  of  J)isw;ir(;.s  to  reluct  int  buyers;  the  leacher 
vliose  reso!utu)n  intimidates  an  unr.dy  sehnol  ;  and  even 
the  lover  who  woos  liis  fair  one,  ami  the  rnotiier  who 
Foothes  hi'F  fretful  iiif tnt ;  all,  all  unf^onscionsly  hring  lo 
bear  to  a  .c^reater  or  less  exient,  one  of  the  m  ist  \v  >n'lerful 
powers  of  mind  with  which  a  wise  Creator  has  eudovvcd 
the  humuu  family. 


CnAPTER  SECOND. 

OPERATOR  AXD  SUBJECT — CONDITION'S. 

It  is  of  the  .areatest  impo*  tance  that  the  moRmcvizin|i^ 
opera'or  shou'd  be  a  heahiiy  person,  ])os-cssing"  "a  sound 
mind  in  a  honnd  body."  This  is  vrry  cs.-entiiii,  from  the 
fact  that  the  nervous  flu  d  which  passes  I'lom  the  system 
of  the  operator  into  that  <f  the  snbj  ct  niesmen'zcd 
Bhould  be  derived  from  a  healthy  somce,  lest  the  snbj-  ct 
be  injured  by  tlic  reception  of  a  diseased  nervuus  Ihi  d  ; 
nlso  for  another  reason,  tiiat  if  the  (tperator  is  in  p«  or 
health  he  weakens  iiis  own  s\stfm  still  more  by  ma;^net- 
izin;^  during  a  time  ot  phys'c  d  indisi  osition. 

The  ()peraior  slionid  be  of  tint  aL'^e  when  in  rnlire  pos- 
BCPsion  of  the  highest  powers  of  bodily  energy  and  mentul 
activity,  neiiher  of  j'onihlul  immaturity  r  of  aged  de- 
crepitude. The  Btreng  h  of  both  mind  aiid  body  should  be 
that  of  confirmed  manhood  or  womanhood,  in  <  rder  to 
reach  the  very  best  results,  more  especially  in  the  treat- 
ment of  diseases. 

All  mesmeiizers  who  desire  to  be  pu  cessfnl  in  their 
work  should  possess  the  highest  moral  character,  and  bo 
actuated  at  all  times  by  a  sincere  desire  to  do  good  to 
others,  and  to  advance  the  cause  of  honest  investigations. 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOTANT. 


133 


They  should  be  quick  to  perceive  and  observe ;  sound  in 
judgment,  and  of  reteniive  memory,  that  they  may  thor- 
onglily  karn  ail  the  minutiaB  of  operating,  and  be  ab'e  to 
know  ju*t  liow  inucli  progress  they  are  making  when  rnag- 
netiz  n;4".  Tlicy  should  ba  of  henevolent  turn  of  mind, 
ever  actnaled  by  kind  feelings,  and  also  conscientious,  that 
tiieir  motives  may  ho  pure,  and  cautions,  that  they  may 
not  be  led  into  oxper  mems  of  doubtfnl  propriety,  and  that 
t-iey  ntay  ahvays  prudently  take  into  consideration  all  the 
esseniiais  of  successfnl  opLMation.  They  should  bj  firm 
and  r*  s  diite,  that  they  m:iy  not  grow  weary  with  delay, 
nor  be  alarnK.'d  at  unpleasant  demonstrations  that  may  l)e 
ma  Ic  hy  eitlier  snhjc  't  or  sp'.'ctaiois  ;  conlid-'Ut,  becuuso 
of  their  own  knowledge  of  iho  science  in  all  its  details  ; 
C')ol,  even  under  the  jilxjs  and  nnoering  remarks  of  tho 
skeptical  ;  c  ilm  and  collected,  though  their  suhjeet  Khould 
go  into  convu  sions  under  tlieir  hands;  and  they  sh  >uld 
puss  'ss  Kuch  p  *wvYs  of  conct-Mitration  as  will  enable  them 
t  >  keep  their  minds  on  t'lei  v  w->rk,  regai'dless  of  what  may 
be  passing  on  around  t*ieni  while  operating:.  A  gor)d  prac- 
tical knowUdge  of  physi  )l<»gy  is  indispen -able  if  one 
wislies  to  bo  ennnenlly  sueces-fil  in  treating  even  the 
most  oidin  try  dis(N«ses,  and  snch  a  kn  >wl  ^Igc  will  bo  a 
great  he'p  at  all  times,  wiiether  one  treats  for  disease,  or 
only  experiin<'nts  witli  liealihy  subjects.  No  person  with 
any  jnclgment  will  undertake  to  experiment  in  so  siraugo 
a  science  as  that  of  "animal  magnetism"  until  he  has  be- 
come thoroughly  acquainted  with  ail  tl»e  details  of  man  p- 
ulation,  and  intbraied  iiim<elf  about  the  dangers  to  be 
enconntered  and  the  meuiis  of  avoiding  them.  We  wonld 
not  advise  a  beginner  to  atten)pt  to  mesmerize  an  indi- 
vidual who  is  ignorant  on  t!ie  snbject  of  which  we  write  ; 
a  well-posted  snbjeet  is  the  best  at  ail  times,  since  he  is 
not  liabhi  t  •  get  alarmed  and  thus  disturb  the  0}'erator. 
It  is  a  wise  plan  not.  to  make  any  ^reat  pn  tetisions  of 
wh  can  be  done,  for  Irequently  failures  result  without 
any  apparent  reason.    Never  bpend  any  lime  in  trying  to 


134 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYAITT. 


convince  unbeli<^vcrs  ;  let  tliem  oxpl.iin  the  phenomena  if 
they  clioose.  Do  not  be  led  into  iryinLC  rash  and  perilous 
experiments  simply  because  some  of  tiie  an<li(*nco  ask  it  ; 
lay  out  the  plan  you  intend  to  pursue,  and  adhere  to  it 
strictly  uidcss  you  see  fit,  for  prudejitial  reasons,  to  devi- 
ate from  it.  Tlie  operator  who  places  himsi^lf  at  the  dis- 
posal and  control  of  a  promiscuous  or  even  select  audience 
will  soon  find  out  the  folly  and  dang-<n*  of  it. 

And  anotliei-  thing,  dea;-  re.ider  :  It*  you  do  not  possess 
enou*;"h  moral  firmness  to  withstand  a  bitter  t>nd  unrelent- 
ing persecution  and  basest  misrepreseniationsj,  even  from 
somu  whom  you  c  »ll  your  frieu'is,  then  do  not  practice  mes- 
merism ;  for  the  age  of  superstition  is  not  gone  by,  and 
people,  now-a-days  :i8  in  b^'g  )ne  d  lys,  still  stigm:«tize  that 
which  is  heyond  their  compiehension  a=5  the  "  work  of  the 
evil  one,"  and  tlmse  who  have  mastered  the  mystery  as 
being  "  children  of  the  devil."  And  it  you  are  essentially 
bad  at  heart,  a  id  have  purcliased  this  W(jrk  with  the  sole 
inteniion  of  using  mesmerism  for  evil  and  immoral  pur- 
poses, th«'n  you  will  have  " your  trcjuble  fi>r  3'our  pains," 
and  will  be  hatfled  and  exposed  in  ^our  un worthy  attempts 
when  you  least  expect  it,  and  under  circumstances  whicii 
will  result  in  your  utter  <liscomfiturc.  Noli  oi;ly  this,  but 
you  will  in  all  probability  lose  ynur  power  to  a  ^reat 
extent,  and  if  you  persist  in  al»u>ing  ywur  girt  it  will  bo 
tak(  n  from  youentiiely,  and  30U  will  then  know  whatyou 
cannot  now  realize,  that  J^rovidenee  has  widely  placed  the 
magnetic  powers  under  the  contr<  I  .md  jzuidancc  of  the 
moral  laeuliies  of  the  mind,  and  not  under  the  rule  of  the 
ba<er  passions. 

Everybody  possesses  magnetic  powers  to  a  greater  or 
less  degree,  and  doubtless  nearly  every  one  can  find  per- 
sons whom  they  can  n»esmer  ze  to  s  nne  extent,  at  least. 
Everybody  can  be  magnetized  in  all  probability,  though 
comparatively  few  will  pass  into  thj  me>meric  coma,  or 
sleep.  The  great  trouble  is  that  many  peisons  will  not 
submit  themselves  passively  to  the  operation,  or  if  they 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


135 


do  FO,  clo  not  repeat  tlio  sitting.^  a  siiffi(;ient  number  of 
times  fo  prodiic<j  u  p  ilpable  n^snlt.  A  linndrcd  sittings 
m-iy  be  necessary  to  l)riug  one  porson  under  the  infliueiiC(j, 
wliilc  .'inotlier  individnal  m  ly  Call  into  the  magnetic  state 
in  a  f(;\v  minutes'  time,  at  ihe  very  first  sitting. 

Strength  (-f  mind  or  body  has  but  little  to  do  with  ihe 
matter  of  8nsceplil)ility,  nnle-s  they  are  used  in  the  way 
of  resistance  to  the  operator.  Some  of  our  best  su' jects 
p«)ssess(  d  the  strongest  minds  and  best  developed  bodies. 
Many  nncoriqnorablo  subjects  beco'ne  tractabb^,  and  sire 
easi  y  subdued  after  being  made  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  principles  of  magnetism. 

Wc  will  now  proceed  to  speak  of  the  conditions  to  bo 
observed  when  mesmerizing.  In  the  first  place,  never 
undertake  to  magnetize  any  ojjc  unless  there  is  a  third 
person  present,  except  wh'^n  j^our  relations  to  the  subject 
are  such  that  no  scandal  will  be  the  result.  Do  not  mag- 
netize a  female  unless  a  female  friend  of  the  subject  is 
pres(M)t.  Never  exp«'rimcnt  with  minors  urdess  you  have 
the  f«dl  consent  of  their  parents  or  guardians  to  do  so. 
Wc  speak  of  these  things  not  so  much  because  there  is 
any  great  danger  of  serious  mischief  being  done,  but  in 
onh  r  that  yon  may  avoid  even  the  appearance  of  evil,  and 
thuci  give  no  room  for  the  foundation  of  slanderous  reports. 
The  i)re8enee  of  a  confidential  friend  of  tlie  subject  on  all 
occasions  is  a  preliminary  that  the  mesmerist  siiould  never 
negb  ct.  Not  only  is  his  own  character  and  that  of  his 
subject  involved,  on  account  of  real  or  supposed  possibil- 
ity of  abuse  of  power,  but  the  credit  of  a  science  having 
m;«ny  able  and  bitter  enemies  is  at  stake,  and,  therefore, 
this  precaution  against  plausible  misrepresentation  should 
on  no  account  be  ovei  looked  ;  and,  further,  the  njind  of  the 
subject  is  more  compl.  tely  lesigned  where  a  friend  is  at 
hand.  The  mesmeric  sitting  should  take  place  in  a  suit- 
able apartment,  neiiher  too  warm  nor  too  cold,  but  simply 
com'^ortable.  All  drafts  of  a  r  from  doors  or  windows 
should  be  avoided,  and  iho  operator  and  subject  should  so 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


seat  Ihomsolvc^  tliat  tlic  light  will  not  s'jiiio  directly  into 
t'le  eyes  of  eitli  T,  but  fro  n  o;ic  s  de  All  1  xul  noises, 
suclj  as  slamming  of  doors,  crying  of  chi'dreii,  an  1  loud 
talking  in  oilier  rooms  of  ihiiiou-c,  sli  )uM  be  guarded 
aga'nst  as  much  a.i  p  )S3  blc,  for  ih  i  reason  th  tt  Ihey  dis- 
tract the  atli'nlion  of  t!ic  hubj(3ct,  and  tiins  bring  about 
uns  I tisfactory  results.  Tii(»  au  iiiMice,  wiiether  ic  be  s  nail 
or  lariTC,  sh  tuld  keep  silence  during  the  sitting,  f  )r  there 
is  nothing  so  unplea-^ant  lo  an  opcrat  ir,  and  s  )  annoying 
to  a  subj  'C",  as  th<?  tittering,  wh  sp<  rinj:^  and  iWa  remarks 
of  spectators.  Above  all,  the  mL'smcrizer  s'loid  I  d  root  ihe 
others  to  keep  t'jcir  eyes  turned  away  froju  the  subject, 
and  not  even  to  ])l:ic ;  th(M*r  minds  on  hi  ii  unt  1  his  mes- 
meric Ktatti  is  establ  s'iod.  Some  persons,  beinx  very  sus- 
ceptible to  magnetic  iuflncnces.  will  be  affected  lo  ;i  con- 
Hiderable  extent  by  s  mp'y  g  izing  at  the  ra.ini{)ulation-i  of 
the  person  making  the  p  isses. 

The  person  t  >  be  nuismerizid  should  be  entirely  free 
from  fear,  and  instructed  in  the  m  itter  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  will  not  be  likely  to  b^ceme  alarme  1  du  ing  the 
sit  ing.  In  fact,  if  he  is  thoroughly  informed  on  the  sub- 
ject of  "Mesmerism,"  it  will  bo  all  the  better  for  boih  him- 
self and  the  operator. 

Those  persons  who  boldly  announce  that  you  cannot 
mesmerize  them,  and  also  state  their  willingness  to  let 
you  make  the  trial,  are  not  proper  subjects,  because  their 
minds  are  antagonistic  to  yours  by  reason  of  their  arro- 
gant skepticism.  Should  you  try  t)  put  them  to  sleep, 
and  even  sensibly  affect  them,  they  will  at  once  begin  to 
resist  you  and  neutralize  your  efforts  ra:her  tlian  be  practi- 
cally convinced  by  yielding  to  your  will  power. 

Entire  passiveness  is  the  mental  condition  t;>  l)e  main- 
tained by  the  suhject — neither  r-  sisting  the  will  of  the 
magnetizer  by  mental  opposition,  nor  hindering  the  pro- 
cess of  the  mesmeric  state  by  an  over  anxiety  to  he  under 
its  influence.  The  subject  should  be  entirely  negative; 
thd  operator  vory  positive.    The  subject  should  assume  an 


THB  WACnCAli  CLAIRTOTlIfr.  ^ 

en^j  position  in  a  c!i  lir  or  on  a  8'>fi,  so  tij.it  ft  mtiscle  need 
•carccly  be  moved  during  tlic  cntiie  ^iitin^.  Everytbiug 


Position  when  Mesmerizing. 


necessary  in  the  way  of  experimont  should  be  provided 
bt'foreliand,  imd  the  assistant  well  instructed  as  to  bis 
duties  thut  there  may  be  no  confusion. 

Avoid  mesmerizing  drnnkurds  as  much  as  possible,  for 
Iboy  S(  metimes  prove  rather  unpleasant  customers  when 
magnetized.  Neither  would  we  advise  you  to  undertake 
to  mesmerize  pers(ms  suffering  from  orgaijic,  heart,  or 
brain  divseases,  unless  you  are  a  wcll-infoimed  physician  as 
well  as  mesmerivst. 

When  operatinor  before  a  pvomiscnons  audience  l)e  care- 
ful to  g-ive  tliem  no  information  before  ihe  sitting  takes 
place  that  wdl  enab  c  unprincipled  persons  to  interfere 
mentally  witn  j  our  work  ;  ;nKl  if  there  be  any  individuals 
in  the  aufliencc  who  are  practical  mesmerists,  get  ac- 
quainted with  them  if  you  can,  and  get  their  good  will  and, 
if  po>sil)h',  their  assistance. 

in  private  assemblies,  and  on  other  convenient  occa- 
sion-<,  be  ready  to  give  all  the  information  desired,  and 
never  attempt  to  invent  your  processes  with  an  air  of  my** 
tery  or  supernatural  power. 


WDB  WtACnCAL  OLAIRTOTAOT. 


CHAPTER  THIRD. 

% 

MODES   OF  OPERATION. 

We  ahall  now  des  cribe  very  minutely  the  mode  of 
brin^Mns^  n  person  into  ihe  mesmn-ic  .state.  Lot  the 
oper.itor  an<l  subject  seat  thcns  -Ives  fxca  to  faco,  thtj  sub- 
ject being  seat<nl  a  little  lower  than  the  op-n-ator  to  enable 
him  to  work  with  greater  ease.*  The  knees  of  the  subject 
may  be  placed  between  t'loso  of  tho  operator,  or,  in  the 
case  of  a  lady  Ku!)ject,  atone  side  ;  any  position  m  ly  bo 
assume!  which  will  lighten  the  labor  of  the  mesmerist 
when  making  the  pisses.  Now  suppo-tia^  yourself  to  be 
the  operator,  y  »u  will  tiki  the  left  hand  of  your  subject 
in  your  ri^^ht,  and  his  right  hand  in  your  left,  placing  the 
ball  of  your  thumb  in  th  5  center  of  the  upper  part  of  tlio 
palm  of  his  hand  near  where  ic  j  »ins  the  wrist,  and  near 
the  root  of  the  thumb  ;  the  subject  h  d.ling  his  p  ilnis  up- 
ward while  your  thumbs  arj  in  t'.ie  position  described  and 
your  fiuijers  clasped  over  the  backs  of  his  hands.    Each  of 


Thumb  on  Median  Nerve. 


yonr  thumbs  is  now  pressinT^  against  the  median  nerve, 
the  second  of  the  brachial  plexus,  and  a  compound  nerve 
having  the  power  of  both  motion  and  sensation.  Now 
lean  a  little  forward  and  fix  your  p^aze  firmly  upon  the  eyes 
of  the  subject,  with  a  determination  in  your  mind  to  con- 
trol and  bring  him  into  the  mesmeric  st  ite  ;  the  subject 
returning  the  gaze  placidly  and  with  a  dos're  in  h's  mind 
to  pass  into  the  sleep.    The  subject  sliould  be  entirely 


See  Engraving  on  page  17, 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIBVOYANT. 


13d 


tranquil  and  passiv(>  in  mind,  and  as  quiet  and  easy  in 
body  :is  possible,  and  in  no  ca-c  should  ho  mentally  resist 
ihe  influence  of  the  operator. 

The  method  of  establishing  the  communications,  as  it  is 
culled,  tlirou<i^h  tlie  channel  of  the  "Median  Nf.rvk"  is  the 
very  best  mclhod  known,  as  it  enal)les  you  to  bring  your 
influence  to  bear  on  tlie  brain  at  <>nce,  as  the  examination 
of  J  he  nerve  in  a  physiolo^iical  state  will  convince  j'ou. 
Another  method  of  uniting  the  h  ^nds  is  to  place  the  balls 
of  your  Uiumbs  agninst  those  of  j^our  subject,  and  then 
clasping  your  fingers  (.vcr  tliC  lower  part  of  his  thumbs  ; 
,VOur  finger-tips  will  then  be  resting  on  the  upturned  pahns 
of  the  subject  and  partly  on  the  "  Median  Nerve,"  perhaps. 


In  this  posiiion  avoid  bending  the  thumbs  of  the  subject 
80  f.ir  back  as  to  cause  pain  or  in^  onvenience.  Of  course, 
it  is  as  necessary  to  estahlish  the  gaze  iu  this  second  as 
in  the  first — the  gaze  being  an  important  feature  at  all 
times. 

After  having  joined  hands  with  the  subject  and  con- 
tinued the  gaze  a  few  minutes,  disengage  your  hands  and 
place  tlieni  on  tlie  crown  of  the  subject's  head,  with  your 
thumbs  resting  on  his  f  uehead  just  ;  bovo  the  nose,  on 
ihe  organ  of  **  Indiv  iduality,"  phrenologically  speaking. 
Let  your  hands  rest  on  the  sul'jectAs  head  for  a  few  mo- 
ments ;  then  pass  them  down  tiKi  sides  of  his  face  till  you 
reach  the  shoulders,  when*  you  let  t  ieni  ve.^t  again  a  few 
moments  ;  theu  pass  ou  down  the  bre^ist,  resting  them  a 
moment  on  the  stomach,  and  continuing  the  pass  till  you 
reach  the  knees,  where  you  will  cease  unless  you  can  con* 


Thumb  to  Thumb. — Fingers  on  Median  Nerve. 


14/^ 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIKVOTANT. 


renienlly  lengthen  the  pa«s  until  you  rcacli  the  feet  of  the 
•nbjcct.  Make  sever  <1  of  llie>e  long  passes  and  then  fol- 
low with  other  passc:*,  commencing  at  ihc  head  as  bcforo 


Thumb  on  Individuality.— Taking  tlie  Communication. 

and  terminatinor  at  the  stomach,  interspersed  with  olhers 
passing  down  the  arms  an-i  ending  at  tlie  subject's  hnnds, 
which  w  11  now  be  roslinix  on  liis  knees.  After  using 
tlicsc  shorter  passes  f>r  eight  or  ten  minutes,  3'ou  will 
make  a  few  long  passes  d<  ser  bed  at  first,  for  the  purpose 
of  equalizing  tlie  niesuicric  fluid  in  the  subject's  system, 
and  then  return  to  the  short  ])as8es.  on  which  tlie  desire<l 
result  mainly  depend -i,  n  t  forgetting  to  commence  each 
pass  at  tiio  t  'p  of  tin)  head. 

In  making  the  passes  the  fingers  should  be  slightly 
curved  and  a  little  apart,  and  the  hands  moved  slowly 
downwards  wiih  the  tips  of  the  fingers  jmd  thumbs  almo.'-t 
touching  the  subject ;  actual  contact  of  the  fini^ers  with 
thtj  Rutject  while  in  motion  not  being  nece-s  iry.  'J'hc 
downward  motion  of  the  hands  should  be  made  slowly,  or 
the  effect  will  be  much  retarded.  At  the  end  of  eaeh  pass 
throw  your  hands  outwurdly  from  the  subject  and  shake 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


141 


them  a  few  times  slightly,  a-;  if  flinginj]^  something  from 
tlie  tips  ol'  your  liiif^ers.  This  is  to  t>reak  the  connection. 
It  may  al-o  l»c  accomplished  by  nibbing-  yuur  tbiinib  quickly 
aiToBs  3^oUi- finger  ends,  and  still  more  CMsily  by  simply 
shutiin^-  }oi\v  hands  quicivly,  keeping  your  fingers  clasped 
again.-t  your  palm-i. 

Wo  now  w  sh  t»  call  your  attention  to  the  manner  of 
your  raising  your  hands  lo  ihe  siilject  in  order  to  repeat 
the  passi  s.  Ciielessncss  in  ibis  respect  may  rcsnlt  in 
throwing  off  the  inflnence  as  fi>t  as  yon  create  an  cffeirt. 
When  you  have  coniplett  d  a  pass,  raise  your  hands  wiih 
the  backs  t  >  the  sn' ject,  c  ith  'r  by  flinging  them  up  closely 
in  fio  t  of  yourself,  or  by  carrying  ihem  up  a  i'oot  distant 
from  the  sides  of  liie  subject,  u  itil  y<>u  reach  the  top  of 
the  iicad  again.  To  raise  \  our  hands  with  the  palms  to- 
wajds  the  sul  j''ct  would  undo  j-our  work. 

There  are  two  otiier  meihods  of  r.iising  the  hands  about 
as  good  as  tliti  foregoing.  One  is  to  clasp  j'our  fingers 
tigli.ly  to  your  palms  and  raise  them  ns  you  like,  and  tho 
other  way  is  to  ilir«»w  your  hands  out  still  further  after 
breaking  the  connection  ;ind  raise  theju  by  describing  a 
large  arc  several  feet,  from  the  sides  of  the  subject  ;  or,  if 
held  closed,  let  them  be  brought  up  a  lit:le  behind  the  sub- 
ject, in  order  to  avoid  the  necessity  of  turning  the  palms 
outward. 

At  all  times  while  making  passes  keep  your  oycs  fixed 
on  those  of  the  subj  ct,  and  com;<'ntrate  your  mental  ener- 
g  es  upon  yr)r.r  work,  nn  I  avoid  tiring  yourself  by  unusual 
eifort  in  tiie  manipula lions.  Siiould  y«ju  get  wijuried  at 
ony  time,  r«  st  yours  df  by  ceasing  t)  make  the  passes 
and  tikiiig  up  tlie  c>)nn(;cti()n  of  tho  hands  as  at  the  be- 
ginninj:  and  coirinuing  it  1"<  r  a  lew  minutes  ;  or  you  can 
connect  one  ban  I  with  tho  hubject's  and  make  passes  with 
tl.c  oiher,  and  ihen  c  laiigc. 

The  lirst  j-3'inp  ot!i  which  indicates  your  progress  in 
mesmerizing  tli(;  subject  is  the  decrease  of  the  temperature 
in  hiki  Lauds.    You  will  perceive  that  the  cxtremitiua  of 


142 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


hi.s  tlinmba  find  fltigors  liccomo  cold  uud  very  likely  moist 
also.  Arioiher  infallible  si^ii  tliat  ttio  nubject  is  entering' 
llic»  dcsir<M|  state  is  a  peculiar  diooping-  of  llic  ('yc•lid^^, 
more  pan icid  ir'y  noticoHblo  wl:oii  tin;  p  >sscs  are  made 
direct  y  in  iVont  of  llictn.  Tlicy  will  giadn.illy  druop 
low*  r  aiul  lower  uniil  at  last  lliey  close  beyond  tlic  ability 
of  thr)  subject  to  open  them.  Sometimes  persons  enter 
the  magnet  it;  slate  wifiiou"^,  closure  of  the  eyes  taking 
place  Sit  all,  but  ilic  coolness  (»t  tite  cxuetniiies  is  always 
pn  sent  t-o  far  as  we  liav.i  observed.  Should  tlic  lumds 
become  warm  again  durinjf  ihe  sitting,  or  the  eyes  lose 
their  sleepy  expression  and  get  wide-awake,  it  will  be  best 
to  en  I  ihc  sitting  at  once  and  throw  oif  the  fluid  from  tlic 
•subject's  system,  as  you  Avill  not  be  likely  to  make  any 
fnrilicr  prugi'ess  at  that  time.  It  will  be  much  easier  to 
bring  ><Mir  sijl-ject  up  to  the  same  point  at  a  future  sit- 
tin>r,  for  it  seems  to  be  a  prim  ip'e  in  in  ignctism  that  all 
progress  made  at  any  silting  is  readily  attained  ever  a^ter, 
and  by  mak  ng  a  little  })r  gress  at  each  sitting  (which 
should  never  exceed  thirty  or  Ibrly  minutes),  a  complete 
stat(;  of  com  i  may  1)0  reached  in  ten  or  fil'teen  cr  even  a 
hundred  consecutive  trials. 

Some  ma^netizers  make  a  practice  of  rccovcr'ng  the 
control  of  the  subject  when  the  hands  begin  to  get  warm 
ind  the  eyes  commence  opening,  by  walking  him  briskly 
across  the  room  a  few  times,  keeping  u;)  the  connections 
)f  the  hands,  ;ind  also  keeping  the  mind  on  the  work, 
b^'equently  the  subjects  may  l»e  thrown  deeper  in  the  state 
after  their  eyes  ate  closed,  by  asking  ihem  to  look  men- 
cally  into  somebody's  house  which  they  are  familiar  with, 
or  by  a^king  them  about:  the  contents  ot  a  certain  drawer, 
or  8om(?  similar  question.  This  is  a  step  towards  clairvoy- 
ance which  rarely  fails  to  deepen  the  sleep  of  tiic  sal  ject. 
You  need  not  fear  that  such  questions  will  waken  him. 

Whenever  your  sitting  is  ended,  no  matter  whether  yoti 
have  pr)duceel  any  at>parenr,  effect  or  no^,  always,  invari- 
ably, throw  off  th J  fluid.    You  cannot  bo  too  careful  about 


THE  PHACTICAL  CLAIRTOTANT. 


lis 


Ihis  ;  never  nf\i;lect  it.  for  sometimes  a  person  is  com- 
pletely in  a  muL^nctic  state  :intl  ilie  operator  not  aware  of 
it,  nor  the  Kubj<  ct  nor  bystandei-  eiLhcr. 

Dispersive  |)asses  :iro  the  reverse  of  the  mesmeric  ma- 
nipulations already  described.  Plac  '  your  h;«nds  directly 
ill  front  of  the  suhjecl's  face,  with  the  backs  lojrc^tljor  ; 
then  spread  tliem  ap.irt  quickly  as  if  brush'np^  s  >mething 
off  Lis  lace — al  o  throwinj:^  your  hands  over  liis  head  as  if 
brushing  his  hair  back  with  the  palms.    Continue  these 


Demesmerizing.— Hands  move  in  direction  of  dotted  lines,  briskly, 

passes  briskly  for  half  a  minute  or  so,  without  touching 
the  suhject,  but  hitting  your  hands  pass  over  and  around 
his  head.  Finish  by  clapping  your  hands  sharp'y  in 
front  of  his  face  a  few  limes  ;  should  he  btill  feel  a  1  tile 
queer,  repeat  the  whole  throwing  off  process.  These  direc- 
t  ons  mu^t  ba  followed  in  ordin  ary  cases  when  little  or  no 
apparent  eHect  is  produced,  no  matter  what  the  subject 
may  say  about  its  not  being  necessary. 


THE  PBACTICAL  CLAHIVOTAITT. 


Should  the  subject  be  entirely  as^(^e))  and  yon  wi-h  to 
waken  him,  you  cm  let  him  alono  and  he  will  wake  of  l>i3 
own  accord  in  a  few  hours,  but  th  s  is  not  advisab  c  by 
any  means.  If  you  tell  him  lo  "  Wake  up  now,"  in  ii  firm 
tone,  ho  will  do  so  in  a  minute  or  two,  when  you  will  use 
the  disp'Tsivc  passes  as  already  given.  Another  w;iy 
still  is  to  use  tiie  dispersive  p:\ssrs  across  the  chest  smd 
stomnch  by  puttim^  ihe  backs  of  your  hands  tog  ther  and 
sprcadiiitr  th-  m  quickly,  as  h;is  abeady  been  shown,  follow- 
ing up  with  deMiesmerizin^  p  isscs  across  the  face  and  over 
the  head,  and  finishing'  by  clapping-  the  hands. 


Demesmerizing. — Hands  move  in  direction  of  dotted  lines,  briskly. 

You  cm  a\so  waken  the  subject  by  making  the  pas^^cs 
npwaid  instead  <f  downwa  d,  takiii.<  care  to  turn  ihe 
palms  of  yoiir  hands  upward  and  to  make  the  motions  in 
brisk  and  lively  manner.  The  subject  can  be  instantly 
awakened  in  this  way  :  S:iy  to  iiim,  N'ow  I  jmi  g  >ing  lo 
waken  y-in.  I  shall  say,  'one,  two,  three!'  and  at  the 
Word  'three'  I  will  clap  my  hands  and  you  will  be  perfectly 
awake.    Arc  you  ready?"    If  so,  you  will  si}',  '  One, 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIBTOTAITP. 

Two,  THREE  I"  and  slap  your  liands  at  (ho  word 
"THREE,"  and  tlie  sulject  will  be  pcrfccily  awake. 
SpoMk  resolutely  and   witli  vig-or. 

This  last  metliod  is  apt  to  shock  the  subject  a  little  with 
its  suddenness,  and  on  that  account  should  not  be  resftrted 
to  CM  all  occasions,  but  it  is  the  best  method  by  which  to 
completely  demesmerize  tlie  suiiject  and  to  cjtpcl  the  sur- 
plus nervous  fluid  he  has  received. 


CHAPTER  FOURTH. 

ELECTRICAL  PSYCHOLOGY. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  descri'^e  the  phenomena  of  that 
branch  of  animal  ma<^netisni  termc^d  Electrical  Psychology, 
and  will  Ret  forth  in  a  (ew  words  what  was  so  ably  advo- 
cated twenty-live  3'ears  0,(^0  by  Dr,  John  Bnvee  Dods  in 
his  lectures  throughout  the  United  States.  Take  any  per- 
son by  tlie  hand  in  the  presence  of  one  other  person,  or 
bef  )re  a  hundred,  placinuf  the  ball  of  your  thumb  on  tiic 
back  of  his  hand  an  inch  above  th(i  knuckle  of  tho  ring 
finger,  between  it  and  the  wrist.  Your  thumb  will  then 
be  resting  (irmly  cm  the  ulxar  nerve,  which  spreads  its 
branches  to  the  ring  and  little  linger.    Let  the  subject 


Thumb  on  Ulnar  Nerve. 


place  his  eyes  on  your  own  as  soon  as  yon  take  his  hand. 
With  a  fixed  determination  to  inlluencc  him,  return  his 
gazij  a  halt  minute  or  irore.  Then  tell  him  to  « lose  liis 
eyes,  and  when  he  has  done  so,  press  the  eyelids  down 
gently  wi  h  your  finders,  usin;;-  the  hand  whi<  h  is  fn  c. 
Now  place  this  hand  on  the  top  of  his  head,  letting  the 


1^ 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIUVOTANT. 


thumb  rest  on  lii.s  foreliead*  just  aliovc  llic  nose,  bearings 
partially  downwards,  slill  Kccpinp^  3'onr  other  tliumb  on  llio 
ULNAR  NERVK.  K(<wtell  liim  111  tlic  Miost  resoliitc  maiiiicr, 
**You  cannot  open  yovr  eyes."  ]f  \a  should  su(  cc(  d,  try  him 
two  or  ihr<  o  lin  es  n  ore,  |  vcpsing  his  lids  down  as  hefoic. 
If  you  cannot,  by  your  will  powe  r,  I  old  his  vyvA  shut  or 
produce  any  effect,  then  end  the  expcrinM-nt.  A  much  bet- 
ter way  is  to  place  your  tliumb  on  the  mkdian  NERVK,f  and 
perlorinin}!^  the  rest  of  the  (  xpei  im(  nt  as  we  hav(,'  just 
shown.  If  you  can  hold  your  sul  jeet's  eyes  closed  by  ihc 
modes  just  mentioned,  or  if  yon  can  contnd  Ihe  action  of 
the  lids  to  a  considerable  extent,  ihen  tell  him  lo  clasp  his 
liands  togother  t  ghtly  on  his  head  or  across  his  knee,  and 
then  say,  "  You  can't  separate  thenj."  To  the  inlinite  sur- 
prise of  almost  everybody,  he  will  be  able  to  do  so  only 
wiih  f^rcat  difficulty,  or  hot  at  all.  Let  him  he  seat(  d,  and 
taking  hold  of  the  chair,  firmly  say,  "  You  can't  rise."  He 
will  remain  seated  in  spile  of  all  his  efforts.  Give  him  a  stick 
to  lioldand  you  can  prevent  him  from  letting  it  fall,  though 
he  may  strive  his  best  to  do  so.  You  can  prevent  his  walk- 
ing ii  single  step.  Yon  can  arrest  h  s  voice  in  the  middle 
of  a  sentence,  and  he  will  vainly  strive  for  utterance.  In 
short,  yon  can  control  his  muscular  efforts  in  any  way  you 
desire,  by  simply  speaking  your  commands  in  a  resolute 
tone,  and  keeping  your  mind  firmly  on  the  work.  Care 
must  be  taken  not  to  let  the  subject  injure  himself  by  over- 
exertions. AYc  once  caused  a  subj<!Ct  to  strain  his  back, 
while  trying  to  lilt  a  single  chair,  which,  light  as  it  was, 
he  could  not  move  an  inch.  Freqn(3ntly  you  will  succeed 
better  by  making  a  few  passes  ovt  r  the  arms,  hands,  or 
fingers,  before  giving  a  command,  observing  to  make  the 
slr»»ke  in  the  direcnon  of  the  extremities.  You  may  not 
be  able  to  control  the  subjf'ct  to  any  gi  eater  extent  than 
already  described  ;  but  if  he  is  very  imprrssible  you  can 
do  much  more,  which  we  will  speak  of  hereafter.  You 


*  See  Engraving  on  page  20. 


t  See  Engraving  on  page  18. 


THE  PEACTTCAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


U7 


may  bring  about  tlic  samo  results  l)y  calling  up  a  number 
of  jiersoMs,  say  twenty  live  or  thirty,  and  letting  each  Uold 
acoiniu  ilie  open  pixlm.  Let  each  one  choose  any  posi- 
tion which  h(j  can  occupy  for  twenty  or  thirty  minutes 
wi  hout  moving  a  sinixie  muscle  except  the  eyelids  in 
winking.  Let  each  subjc.'ct  hold  the  coin  about  a  foot 
from  liis  cyi-a,  and  fix  his  gMze  on  it,  wi.h  his  mind  per- 
fectly passive  and  withdrawn  as  mucii  as  possible  from  all 
external  surroundings.  During  the  twenty  or  t!iirty  min- 
utes occupi  d,  the  spectators  must  be  as  silmt  as  the 
gi  ave,  and  the  eyes  of  e;ich  subject  rive  ed  on  his  coin,  and 
his  muscles  as  motion'ess  as  a  statue.  The  result  will  be 
more  I'avoiable  if  you  keep  your  mind  on  the  entire  class 
of  subjects,  and  still  better  if  you  occasiona'ly  make 
passes  over  them,  though  you  may  safely  withdraw  your 
mir.d  from  them  and  direct  your  attention  to  keeping  the 
audience  as  quiet  as  possible.  When  the  half-hour  has  ex- 
pired, attend  to  the  subjects,  one  at  a  tinjo,  and  take  the 
communication  throu;^h  the  ulnar  or  median  nerve,  as 
already  .shown,  and  you  can  experiment  wiih  all  those 
whoso  eyes  you  succeed  in  closing.  Qu'te  likely  yon  will 
find  one  or  two  who  have  passe  i  into  the  mesmeric  slum- 
ber b(,'fore  the  sitting  is  ended,  especially  if  y«m  have  in- 
structed every  one  not  to  res  st  the  drojping  of  their  eye- 
lids and  the  drowsy  feeling  while  gazing  at  the  coins. 
We  should  mention  that  you  should  gather  up  your  coins 
(or  buttons,  marbles,  or  whatever  is  used  instead,)  before 
taking  tlie  communication  to  close  the  eyes,  in  order  lo 
relieve  the  su!  jects  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  let  each 
remain  perfectly  still  until  his  turn  comes.  ThOvSe  whom 
you  cannot  influence  to  any  degree,  you  will  pass  by, 
re  ainiiig  only  the  most  itnpressible  to  experiment  with. 
Only  be  sure  to  throw  off  the  influeiice  from  every  one  who 
holds  a  coin,  and  be  sure  that  you  do  not  forget  to  do  so 
belore  the  entertainment  is  brought  to  a  close.  Whenever 
you  su'  ceed  in  closimy-  the  eye-}  of  a  subject  in  mesmer- 
izing, and  you  can  hold  them  shut  by  y>>ur  will  power, 
you  cau  succeed  in  the  experiments  wo  have  spoken  of  at 


148 


THE  PEACTICAL  CLAIEVOTANT. 


the  first  of  Ibis  chaptiT,  and  if  tlic  subject  i^^  easily  con- 
trolled you  can  continue  by  addin^^  the  following,  and 
others  ol  like  nature.  You  cau  m;ikc  liim  do  these  things 
by  simply  willing  bim  to  do  so,  wiibout  snying  a  word  to 
bim,  if  be  be  very  susceptible,  ihnngb  sncli  cases  arc  not 
as  frequent  as  tiiose  who  must  be  commanded  au'libly. 
You  can  make  the  subject  believe  that  the  handkercliief 
tied  round  liis  arm  is  a  snake  ;  that  be  is  in  a  nest  or  hor- 
nets ;  that  i;e  is  a  stump  speaker  ;  tiiat  he  is  a  jig  dancer  ; 
tliat  be  is  in  a  thunder-sioim  ;  in  a  battle  ;  or  in  any  other 
place  you  wish.  You  can  place  your  knife  in  his  band  and 
make  it  feel  j-o  hot  th  >t  be  will  drop  it  in  pain.  You  can 
mak(^  bim  nurse  a  pillow  as  if  it  were  a  little  babe, — an 
amusing  cxperinu  nt  when  an  old  bachelor  is  t'le  subject. 
You  can  c.insc  bim  lo  shed  tc^ai's  over  the  prostrate  ttody 
of  so  ne  one  of  the  au  lience  previously  informed,  by  telling 
iiim  be  bcho'ds  the  de.td  lornr  of  sume  ne  ir  and  dear  unc. 
Yon  mav  give  him  a  j>lass  of  water  to  drink,  and  if  you 
tc  1  him  it  was  strong  drink  he  wi-ll  stagger  like  a  drnnkcu 
man.  If  any  of  th(;  auduMicc  try  to  joke  iii  ti,  he  will  show 
an  apiness  of  reply  and  a  brdli;incy  of  rcpaitce  far  beyond 
bis  ability  in  the  <  rdinaiy  st.«te.  The  subject's  aegermay 
be  atoired  till  be  beci)mcs  almost  dangerous  to  tiiose 
whom  be  lancies  to  be  bis  enemies.  Be  carelnl  in  cxperi- 
nu  nt  ng  not  to  ake  the  changes  too  abrupt,  lest  the  nerv- 
ous systc  ii  of  the  subject  be  sh;ikeu.  Never  end  the 
series  (  f  experiments  with  anyihii  g  of  an  unpleasant  char- 
acter ;  if  _)ou  do,  the  subject  w)ll  feel  badly  for  hours 
afteiward.  Let  the  last  experiment  be  of  a  lively  nature, 
pleasing  to  the  subject  as  well  as  those  looking  on. 
Noliiing  should  be  impres.-ed  on  the  mind  of  the  t  ui  ject 
"which,  if  real,  would  endanger  bim  mentall}',  or  which,  if 
an  actual  occurrence,  would  result  in  physical  de..t!».  In 
short,  be  very  ])rn(leiit  and  cauti  >ns,  and  attempt  nothing 
but  what  is  s.ife,  no  m  ittei-  what  tlionghts  bystanders  may 
clamor  for.  Keep  cool  ai  d  collecte  1  ;  keep  your  mind  on 
the  subject,  so  as  to  control  him  fully,  and  never  g^et 
alarnwid  nur  out  of  patience,  and  all  will  be  w«ll.  , 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOTANT. 


149 


CHAPTER  FIFTn. 

DANGERS  TO  BE  AVOIDED. 

We  now  c^^mc  to  speak  of  the  dangei  s  of  animal  maof* 
ncti>rn,  boili  imaginary  ;ind  real.  The  lirst  tlioui^lit  wliich 
enters  Ihc  minds  ot*  a  majority  of  persons,  \vli<  n  tli'  y  arc 
n)ado  to  realize  the  trutli  of  mcsmedsn),  is,  that  it  may 
become  an  a.i;cnt  of  great  power  for  cvd  in  iha  bands  of 
bad  njcn.  But  it  is  a  fact,  wiiii  li  all  observing  inesmerists 
have  noticed,  that  the  moral  liicnlties  pi  ty  important 
pait  in  the  sncccssfnl  cxereise  of  the  ma^Mietic  power.  Wo 
r<dy  on  the  word  of  eminent  wiiters  on  the  subject,  and 
also  tlie  testimony  <.f  nnmeions  operatoi-s,  that  wlien  m<^n 
n»ake  a  l'a<l  nsi;  of  tl)o  power  lliey  possess  magnetically, 
they  finally  loose  ihat  power  eniiiely.  Cases  of  this  kind 
arc  on  record  ;  and  further,  that  wh'Mi  once  the  power  is 
lost,  it  is  lost  forever.  The  same  law  governs  the  mental 
man  that  governs  the  pliysical  man ;  as  the  abnse  of  the 
funetions  of  a  physical  or<!aii  n-snits  in  the  loss  of  the 
fnnciion,  so  the  abuse  of  a  mentil  p.iwer,  like  mesmerism, 
resjilis  in  its  1  )ss.  TluMcforo  we  would  say  to  those  un- 
prinC'!  led  villains  who  study  this  bo.>k  f  <r  an  evil  purpose, 
yon  will  not  oidy  lose  a  mystcnions  power,  l^estowed  lor 
good  pnrposos,  but  yon  will  be  thwarted  in  another  way 
whieh  we  will  now  mak()  known.  Many  things  may  be 
nccoraplisi.ed  in  i he  w  >y  of  exp  rimcnts  w'lieh  could  not 
be  Inought  about  by  lh<^  <  pi  raior  if  he  were  in  earnest. 
The  mind  of  the  Kubj(3et  feels  that  the  op.-rator  is  not  n  ally 
meaning  to  lead  him  into  harai,  and  In^  governs  hims-  lf 
accordingly.  But  the  m-  ment  an  operator  is  influenced  by 
byd  m  dives  he  1  ses  Control  of  his  subject,  and  the  sub- 
j(  ct  will  resist  him  both  mentally .  ai.d  p!iy>ically.  For 
instance  :  A  clergyman  who  had  smcc-«  ssfnlly  treated 
a  lady  for  disea.'^e.  by  the  use  <d"  mesmerism,  attempted 
to  lake  liberties  vviih  her  person.  Uis  base  attempt  arou«ed 


ISO 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


her  moral  foelings  to  such  a  degree  that  she  was  conruUcd 
anil  wakened,  and  her  sci earns  brought  help  immediately. 
If  a  person  be  moral  before  being  mesmerized,  he  w  ll  be 
donl)ly  so  in  tlie  mngn'  tic  state,  and  also  stronger  phys- 
ieull\ ;  and  in  case  lie  sees  fit,  ulide  magniMized,  to  resist 
the  operator,  he  becomes  almost  as  dangerous  as  an  en- 
raged lunaiic.  But  all  such  attempts  as  the  one  just 
refeired  to  may  be  baffled  by  taking  the  precaution  to 
have  at  least  one  friend  of  the  subjeet  pri^ssnt  during  the 
sitting.  'Ihis  should  never  be  neglected.  Let  u-;  suppose 
that  mesmerism  could  be  used  lor  infamous  purpose-^,  as 
many  will  sli  1  contend  who  are  opposed  to  ir.  That 
would  make  it  a  prime  necessity  for  every  intelligent  man 
and  woman  to  become;  practically  acquainted  wiili  its  phe- 
nomena, in  order  that  they  might  be  able  to  guard  them- 
selves and  tlieir  friends,  if  mesmerism  is  dan^-erous,  how 
great  the  need  to  comprehend  the  danger,  and  to  l)e  able 
to  delect  it  under  all  circumstainrcs.  The  oltener  a  person 
allows  himself  to  be  mesmerized,  the  more  easily  and 
readily  he  enters  the  state.  Such  persons  sometimes  be- 
come feai  ful  1(  St.  they  may  be  thrown  into  the  state  una- 
wares, while  other  persoiis  who  have  never  been  subj'  cted, 
ofjen  entertain  fears  of  like  character.  If  a  person  who 
is  easily  subjected  wishes  to  ward  otT  tiie  influ(  nee  of  any 
one  whom  he  has  reason  to  believe  is  trying  to  magnetize 
him,  let  him  join  the  tips  of  his  ihumbs  and  fingers,  and  at 
the  same  time  resist  mentally,  lie  \vi  1  b(.»  still  more  suc- 
cessful in  resisting  the  influence  if  he  grasps  his  hands 
together  so  as  to  unite  the  median  nerves  of  his  two  palms, 
and  resist  menially  also.  This  method  forms  a  circl(3 
within  one's  own  syslem,  gu  irded  at  all  points,  like  the 
military  hoUww  squ  ire  of  ''Guard  against  Cavalry.''^  But 
the  best  plan  of  all  is  for  the  susceptible  subject  to  be- 
come deeply  mesmerized,  and  while  in  the  state  let  the 
operator  speak  to  him  in  regard  to  his  fears,  etc.:  "  Now 
do  you  wish  for  the  abili  y  to  resist  the  influence,  that  you 
may  not  become  mesmerized  in  the  least  agaiubt  your 


THE  PBACnCAL  CLAIRTOTANT. 


151 


will?"  "  Yes,  of  contsc,"  snys  the  Riil  joct,  or  perhaps  ho 
may  simply  iMd.  "Well,"  continues  ihe  operator,  *'  resolve 
firmly  in  your  mind  that  yon  siiall  not,  at  any  future  time, 
be  snbjccied  contrary  t  )  your  wishes/'  *'Alake  a  strong 
determinaticn  to  be  at  all  times  free  from  the  nK^smcric 
influence  except  at  such  times  as  you  are  perfectly  willinii^." 
The  snlject  wiil  he  seen  to  piess  his  lips  together  in  a 
very  dccid' d  manner,  and  the  oper;it(»r  sh«.nl<l  continue  his 
advice,  telling  liim  that  by  firm  resolntion  he  will  he  able 
at  all  times  to  resist.  Whei»  tlie  subject  is  wakened  he 
will  find  himself  able  lo  ward  off  all  inflnences,  if  he 
choosovs  to  do  so.  This  depends  uf)on  one  of  the  principles 
of  nicsmerism,  that  impress  ons  made  on  the  mind  of  the 
puhjoct  whih;  in  the  sleep  are  retained  after  ho  is  awakent  d. 
This  should  lead  tHe  operators  to  be  a  little  careful  j«bout 
the  mental  impressions  they  make  on  t  eir  subjects,  lest 
unpleasant  consequences  lollow.  A  very  com:n<>n  etror, 
into  which  m;»ny  fall,  is  that  of  a  good  snbject  submit  ing 
himself  to  many  operators  in  the  conrse  of  a  short  time. 
When  an  excellent  snbject  is  found,  he  is  often  retjuired  to 
sit  for  this  <  peralor,  then  in  a  few  honrs  to  sit  for  that  one, 
at  the  rate  of  a  dozen  or  more  operators  in  the  space  of  a 
week,  or  less.  This  is  very  injurious  to  the  nervous  sys- 
tem of  the  subject,  since  it  is  impossible  to  throw  off  all  the 
nervous  fluid  that  an  operator  has  imparted,  and  a  little 
nervous  fluid  from  each  of  a  dozf^i  ditl'erent  individuals  is 
not  calculated  to  benefit  a  snbject,  by  any  nieans.  It  is 
bi'St  for  a  snbject  to  confine  himself  to  one  operator,  and  to 
allow  no  change  until  several  days  have  intervened.  There 
seems  to  be  a  difference  in  the  efficiency  of  different  opera- 
tors with  regard  to  the  same  subject,  whi<  h  indicates  a 
difference  in  the  quality  of  the  nervous  fluid.  Subjects 
should  not  submit  themselves  to  operators  of  immoral  char- 
acter, or  of  impure  physical  hab.ts,  as  the  nervous  fluid 
from  bad  persons  is  an  undesirable  po.-sessioji.    The  sub- 

i'ect  who  is  fjequently  mesnjerized  by  a  niesmeristof  poor 
lealth  may  find  himself  loaded  with  the  operator's  disease  ; 


THE  PBACnCAL  CLAIRVOtAlCT. 


wliile,  on  the  otlier  liand,  the  operator  will  find  his  own 
Bystcrn  improving"  at  ihc  expense  of  the  unwise  subject. 
The  h:i(\  ollects  of  lettin.s;'  children  sleep  wiJi  the  old  and 
inlirm  is  an  example  of  like  chai  actor.  Do  not  impress  it 
on  tlie  mind  of  a  magnetized  subject  that  you  cannot 
awaken  him,  or  else  you  may  lind  tiiut  you  will  not.  be  able 
to  briti;^  him  out  of  tlie  si  ate  ;  as  liie  subject  will  then 
contiol  liimseU",  and  will  not  wake  till  he  gets  ready. 
S.)inetiines  you  will  be  truuMed  a  Utile  by  the  influence  of 
the  minds  of  the  bystanders,  who  have,  ignor.intly  or  o  her- 
wise,  put  tl'emsclves  iu  communie:ition  with  the  subject  l>y 
handling  him  too  freely  or  by  fixing  their  gaze  and  atten- 
tion upon  him  loo  intently.  A  few  words  to  the  snbjfct, 
instructing  him  to  obey  you  alone,  and  to  ward  off  ou  side 
interference,  will  set  matters  right  again.  Attempt  no 
dangerous  experiments  with  a  siibjoet.  Remember  that 
the  impressions  m:ide  on  his  mind  are  seemingly  real  to 
him,  and  the  shock  or  scare  y(n\  may  produce  will  be 
likely  to  cling  to  him  when  awakened.  We  once  caused  a 
subject  to  weep  over  what  he  supposed  to  be  the  dead  body 
of  his  father;  and  then,  as  the  audience  were  seriously 
affected,  we  brout^ht  him  into  a  natural  state  and  dismissed 
(he  asfecmbly.  But  the  young  man  who  was  the  subject, 
told  us  jifierward,  tliat  the  saddening  influences  affjcted  him 
considerably  tlie  next  day.  Jr^o,  you  see,  one  cannot  be  too 
cautious.  Let  all  changes  be  gradual,  and  let  the  last  cx- 
perim  nt  be  of  a  cheer! ul  natuie.  Av'oid  drunkards,  for 
though  they  are  generally  subjected  with  ease,  they  are 
hard  to  w.iken,  and  are  likely  to  deceive  you  by  making 
you  believe  that  they  are  iKJt  in  the  least  unde-r  the  influ- 
ence, when,  in  reality,  they  are  completely  mesnierized. 
We  would  advise  you  to  steer  clear  of  tliose  who  may  have 
a  predisposiiion  to  insanit3',  or  who  may  be  subject  to 
organic  disease  of  the  heart.  It  is  best  to  be  on  the  safe 
side  when  you  mesuierize  Ibr  the  purpose  of  try  ng  experi- 
ments. If  the  subject  t^hows  any  convulsive  action  when 
you  arc  making  the  passes,  breathe  gently  on  top  of  Lis 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRYOYANT. 


153 


lica^l  nnd  down  to  tlic  back  of  liis  nccV.  Sometimes  it  is 
well  to  breathe  on  the  part  Mflccted.  Slioiild  the  Bubject 
show  any  difficul  y  in  breathin.G:,  m:iko  a  few  dispcrsivo 
passes  over  the  chest,  and  tlic  breaihinij  will  become  nat- 


nral.  Sometimes  the  snbjei  t  jiets  alarmed,  whicli  fre- 
quently is  the  case,  when  he  has  not  previ.>n.-ly  been 
instructed  in  the  matter,  or  when  Kome  of  the  bystaiKlers 
get  scared.  Under  sucli  circnm^tances  thnnv  the  8iihject 
out  of  the  state,  anil  have  no  more  tod  )  witli  persons  Ii.ivin^ 
60  little  ^^ood  sense.  Persons  are  some  itnes  thrown  into  a 
''trance"  at  rel'^iou-?  mci;iings.  This  is  <'f  en  brouo^ht 
about  by  tlic  concentration  ot  the  minds  of  tiie  preacher 
and  members  upon  tlic  mind  of  t!ic  seeker  for  reliiriOn,  in 
connection  wiih  tlie  patting-,  embracing,  nnd  hnnd-s baking", 
which  are  so  frequently  practiced  at  extraordinary  revivals. 
The  exhaust  on  of  those  at  the  "anxious  sea'"  r(?nder.t» 
them  very  susceptible  to  magnetic  influences.  Frequent  y 
persons  are  thrown  into  a  tr.mce  i  i  this  way.  Tiie  preacher 
is  very  enthusiastic  and  earnest.  He  sees,  we  will  say,  a 
female  in  tiie  congregMtion  who  is  deeply  aflecfed.  As  a 
matter  of  course,  he  wdl  naturally  direct  bis  mind  toward 


X54 


THE  PEACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


her,  desirino:  her  to  be  converted— to  resi;^-n  Ijersclf — 
giving  lip  all — and  Ihc  result  m  ly  be  that  she  is  thrown 
into  a  cataieptic  state,  called  "trance,"  and  that  withont 
any  thought  of  such  a  resnlt  on  the  part  of  tlie  preacher. 
Now,  if  the  preacher  or  auy  other  person,  will  put  himself 
in  communication  with  the  individual  who  is  in  the 
"trance,"  by  nutans  of  the  median  nerve  and  hand  on  the 
head,  and  use  the  means  described  lor  demesmcrizing,  the 


entranced  one  will  wake  up  in  a  few  minutes.  We  have 
known  more  than  one  person  bronjrht  out  of  a  revival 
"trance"  in  this  way.  More  tlian  that,  we  have  seen  a 
number  of  persons  thrown  into  the  psychological  state 
(like  that  in  tlie  coin  experinu  ni,  descril^ed  in  chapter 
four),  and  a  few  into  a  "trance"  state,  l-y  the  efforts  of  the 
preacher  in  charge,  who  did  not  sciuple  t  >  use  mesmeric 
passes  until  we  detected  him  and  exposed  his  practice  to 
the  cliurch,  when  th(i  wonders  ceased,  and  the  people's  eyes 
were  opened.  We  do  not  mention  these  tilings  to  scoff  at 
religion,  nor  to  ridicule  any  demoustiational  practice,  but 
to  put  well  meaning  peop'e  on  their  guard,  that  they  m  ly 
not  have  mere  m  -wiie.ic  phenomena  palmed  off  on  them  as 
being  a  high  order  of  religious  experience. 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


CHAPTER  SIXTH. 

MEDICAL  USE  OF  MESMERISM. 

We  propose  to  give  a  few  directions  in  regard  to  the 
use  of  mesmerism  in  curing  diseases  of  the  simph-r  sort. 
Serious  cases  of  disease  should  be  treated  mesmerically 
only  by  operators  who  arc  tliorough'y  {icquainted  with  the 
human  system  and  its  ailments,  or  wlio  act  under  the  ad- 
vice of  a  physician  who  is  well  informed  on  the  subject  of 
animal  magnetism.  It  is  generally  best  to  begin  as  though 
YOU  were  g(Mng  to  mesmerize  your  patient,  and  should  ho 
become  purti.tlly  mr.gneiized,  or  even  pass  completely  into 
the  state,  it  will  do  no  harm  wliatever.  You  cmnot  be  too 
careful  in  making  the  pusses  when  mesmerizing  for  disease, 
as  there  is  danger  of  throwing  the  patient's  disease  upon 
your  own  system.  Throw  your  Iiands  away  ftoin  your 
body — not  towards  it — at  th-;  completion  of  each  pass. 
Some  cperatois  wash  their  hands  Ireely  in  cold  water 
when  they  hive  done  ti eating  a  sick  person.  A  great 
many  operators  declare  they  feel  sympathetic  sympioms 
in  their  own  bodies  not  unlike  the  pains  of  the  patient 
whom  they  are  magnetizing.  Such  diseases  an  nervous 
lie.idache,  nenralg  a,  toothache,  earache,  rlieumat'sm,  and 
local  inflammation,  are  easily  subdued  in  the  manner  here- 
afier  desciibed.  But  one  must  exercise  some  common 
sense,  r»r  els(}  he  will  throw  away  his  strength  and  accom- 
plish but  1  ttltj  good.  For  instance,  it  would  bo  out  of 
the  qu'  Stion  to  cure  a  sick-headache  which  was  the  result 
of  indigestion  in  an  ovei loaded  stomach.  So  long  as  the 
caus'j  of  a  disease  is  not  removed  tlie  resulting  pains  can- 
not be  more  than  temporardy  iclieved.  Where  t'le  disease 
i >  pro  liKjed  by  a  disarrangement  of  the  nervous  system, 
mesmerism  wdl  prove  a  swift  and  8urc  cure.  Headache 
can  be  relieved  by  making  upward  passes  from  the  neck 


156 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIEVOYANT. 


to  the  crown  of  tlic  hend,  as  if  demcsmerizing.  This  is 
doMo  by  the  operator  walking  nroiind  the  patient  so  as  to 
affect  every  portion  of  the  h(jad,  finisliing  eacli  pass  ae  if 
drawing  some  dehjtia'ions  influence  from  tiie  pati'  nt's  licad. 
S'line  cuses  can  be  cured  by  making  downward  instead  of 
npwaril  passes.  Fre(]ucnily  the  patient  will  be  relieved 
by  bieatliing  on  his  head  a  lew  times  alter  you  have  com- 
nkcnced  (lie  passes.  Sliould  the  disease  not  yield  to  this 
treatment  (which  is  to  be  used  while  the  patient  is  awake), 
then  ])nt  the  patient  to  sleep  and  follow  the  foregoing 
directions  tiie  same  as  when  he  was  awake.  Neuralgia, 
when  sev<  re,  is  best  treated  by  the  complete  mesmeiizing 
of  the  patient,  ami  as  soon  as  the  sleep  is  produced  let 
local  ])asses,  without  contact,  b(?  mad<!  over  the  pait 
affected  Mild  cases  can  usnally  be  relieved  ly  a  few 
general  passes,  as  in  mesmerizing  a  subject,  followed  by 


Method  of  Curing  Toothache,  Neuralgia,  or  Headache. 

local  passes  over  the  seat  of  disease.  All  local  passes 
used  in  tr<'ating  di-ease  should  l  e  finished  by  a  drawing 
motion  of  the  hands  ;  the  operator  at  the  same  time  will- 
ing firndy  to  draw  some  malevolent  influence  iVom  the 
patient's  system,  the  removal  of  which,  though  not  seen, 
is  nevertheless  proceeding  under  the  man  pulati(ms.  Wtien 
each  pass  is  finished,  iiing  your  hands  briskly  fiom  the 


THE  PEACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


157 


patient  (not  in  the  diiection  of  your  own  person),  as  if 
you  weie  throwing  the  di^-eat^c  from  your  fin^-er-tips. 
Rheumatism  may  be  treated  by  local  passes,  continuing 
the  treameiit  for  Imlf  an  liour  at  a  time,  preceded  by  tlse 
mesmeric  slumber  in  very  severe  cases.  Let  t!ie  local 
passes  be  mude  in  the  diicctiun  wliich  the  arterial  blood 
flows,  tliat  is  towards  llie  extremities,  commencin^^  each 
pass  at  tlie  point  of  diseased  action  nearest  tlui  heart.  As 
u  gener;»l  rule,  all  local  passes  should  be  made  in  like 
manner,  observing  also  not  to  hold  ti:e  hands  in  such  a 
position  as  to  demesmerize  while  bringing  them  up  to  re" 
peat  the  passes.  Should  ri<ri<'.ity  of  the  patient's  muscles 
n  su't  fiom  your  man  pulations,  it  can  be  easily  removed 
by  patting  the  rigid  part  gently  with  your  hand,  or  by 
blowing  ir  briskly  two  or  llirc  c  tinv  s,  or  I  y  a  few  reveiso 
passes.  Molheis  and  nuises  may  frequently  prevent  fi's 
and  convulsions  during  teething,  by  makii  g  downward 
passes  over  the  head,  lace,  and  dic^t  of  the  chdd.  Ear- 
ache, that  comm<jn  com|)l  int  amon;^  children,  may  bo 
cured  by  fobowing  the  direeiions  for  relieving  head  icho, 
and  by  liieaihing  in  tie  ear  .-flectjd.  It  is  a  g' od  plan 
to  force  the  l)reath  into  a  folded  liandK<M'chief  placed  t-n 
the  sj)ot  where  the  pain  is  located.  When  peisons  are 
naturally  very  susceptible  to  mesmerism,  <  r  have  become 
BO  by  repeat(jd  trials,  then  any  portion  of  their  bod  es  may 
be  rnagn(Mized  by  local  passes  without  affeciing  the  lest  of 
their  systems.  A  jaw  m  ly  be  mesmerized  and  a  tooth 
drawn  without  pain  ;  a  fi^ot  may  be  made  insensible  and 
an  ingrowing  nail  taken  away.  Serious  surgical  opera- 
tions may  be  f)erforme(l  by  mesnjeiizing  th(3  paiiint  most 
profoundly,  and  wdiile  in  the  htale  1  e  will  be  insensible  to 
the  pain,  and  he  may  I  e  awakfned.  except  that  poriiou  of 
the  body  operated  on  by  the  surueon,  which  portion  may 
bo  left  to  rapidly  heal  in  a  magnetic  state,  without  pain. 
The  curious  fact  tl  at  persons  deeply  magnetized  become 
compleb  ly  insensible  to  pain  at  the  will  of  the  operator, 
prumis(  s  muc  li  future  good  to  the  human  family.  Another 


158 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIEVOYANT. 


fact  equally  curious  is,  thiit  while  the  subject  feels  no  pain 
inflicted  on  Ids  own  body,  he  is  keenly  sensitive  to  pains 
given  the  hody  of  the  <  perator  who  controls  him.  A  needle 
thrust  in  tlie  operator's  arm  will  cause  the  subject  to  flinch, 
while,  at  the  same  time,  he  will  pay  no  attention  what- 
ever to  a  thrust  in  his  own  person. 

Anoiher  very  successful  method  of  mesmeric  treatment 
practiced  by  one  ol  the  leading  magneti.^  f)hysicians  is  to 
instruct  the  patient  when  deeply  magnetized  to  make  a  firm 
resolntion,  with  all  the  poweis  of  his  will,  that  he  shall  be 
well  and  free  from  his  di.-ease  upon  awaking.  Let  the 
subject  he  thoionghly  taught,  while  in  the  magnetic  Uate, 
to  forgot  his  disease,  to  be  rid  of  it,  and  in  no  case  be 
allowed  to  entertain  ideas  that  he  will  feel  badly  when 
awaki^ned,  and  the  result  will  be  astonishing.  D  sease  of 
a  simple  character,  like  ague,  is  often  cured  by  one  trial. 
Some  magnetizers  make  a  practice  of  letting  their  patients 
describe  their  own  diseases  while  in  a  magnetic  state,  and 
also  to  prescribe  the  remedies.  We  think  t!iis  decidedly 
unsafe,  unless  th(!  p  itient  has  developed  un  loubted  clair- 
voyant faculties  of  a  high  degree.  The  patient  may  describe 
symptoms  and  condiiions  which  do  not  exist  in  his  system, 
and  the  impression,  while  mignetized,  though  f  il-ein  it-elf 
may  bring  about  real  results  whivh  will  be  directly  the 
reverse  of  those  mentioned  in  the  preceding  paragiaph  ; 
also,  the  subject's  own  mental  prescription  while  in  a  state 
of  coma  may  cause  a  physical  necessity  for  the  remedies 
prescribed.  Let  all  the  impressions  entertained  by  the 
subject  be  of  a  nature  to  bi  ing  about  a  favorable  result, 
since  the  power  of  magnetic  imagination  will  produce 
great  results  in  the  natural  state,  so  far  as  the  physical 
B^'stem  is  concerned. 

In  your  treatment,  be  actuated  by  a  sincere  desire  to  do 
good  ;  follow  the  directions  given  in  full  conlidence  ;  see 
that  your  sul  ject  is  made  free  from  all  fear,  and  you  will 
be  absolutely  astonished  at  ^^jurself,  and  the  only  trouble 
will  be  that  you  will  be  annoyed  by  tiie  springing  up  of  a 
neighborhood  practice  for  ihe  treatmeut  of  simple  diseases. 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRYOYANT. 


159 


CHAPTER  SEVENTH, 

PUBLIC  LECTURING. 

Prrhaps  it  will  not  be  amiss  to  p^ive  our  readers  a  few 
hints  on  the  above-named  subject,  since  a  lew  of  tliem,  at 
any  rale,  will  ultimately  s(^ek  t<)  difinsc  the  knovledge  of 
mesmerism  through  the  powers  of  oratory  and  declama- 
tion. While  we  do  not  wish  to  restrict  the  tyro  lecturer 
to  onr  particular  plan,  yet  we  believe  that  a  definite  plan 
will  be  of  f^reat  advantage  to  tlie  beginner,  who  may 
vary  the  programme  to  huit  his  individual  taste  and  the 
circumstances  wliich  surround  iiim. 

In  addressin.;- an  audience  on  the  important  subject  of 
Animal  Magnetism,  it  is  best  lo  inform  them  that  the 
great  mystery  has  been  known  to  the  world  for  age.'', 
and  th;it  it.  is  no  new-fani^'led  humbug,  but  a  truth  will 
established.  After  citing  to  them  historical  accounts  of 
magnetic  wonders,  call  tl;cir  attention  to  the  mysterious 
facta  of  our  present  tifne,  giving  such  instances  as  cannot 
be  gainsayed.  Seek  to  impress  the  audience  that  there  is 
much  more  in  this  thing  which  they  are  inclined  to 
ridicule  than  they  imngine.  VVe  do  not  know  as  it  is 
worth  while  to  spend  much  time  in  exphiining  a  theory — 
one  fact  is  worth  a  thousand  theories  ;  and  then,  too, 
there  are  so  many  theories  advocated  in  regard  to  the  sub- 
ject, that  perhaps  it  would  be  just  as  well  to  st-t  them  all 
aside.  A  promisctious  audience  ran  ly  lias  the  patience 
to  sit  quietly  and  listen  to  a  line  sputi  arojument  which, 
after  all,  may  be  entirely  w  mistake.  When  you  have 
finished  3'onr  address,  which  should  deal  with  the  subject 
only  in  a  g(  iieral  w;iy,  you  can  state  to  the  audience  that 
yon  are  leady  to  experiment,  but  that  if  they  wish  your 
cxjieriment  to  be  entirely  successful  they  must  obey  orders. 
Of  cuuruo  you  will  not  coujmic  so  grave  a  mistake  us  to 


160 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


give  Ihrm  such  information  as  to  cnab'c  evil-disposod  per- 
sons to  tliwart  and  liinder  von  in  any  of  tlie  mesmeric  pro- 
cesses. Yon  can  call  five  or  s<'vcn  persons  forward,  lakmg 
care  to  select  intelligent  individuals,  if  possible,  i\nd  give 
tlie/n  explicit  directions  liowr  to  peiforin  tiie  lilting  experi- 
ment, as  we  have  1  efore  de>ciil)cd.  liepeat  the  experi- 
meni  im:il  the  I  fiers  work  in  unison,  when  it  will  be  a 
great  success.  Afh  r  all  arc  sealed  again,  yon  will  explain 
the  following  experiment  to  tlie  audience,  and  then  make 
one  or  two  trials  of  it.  Let  all  the  assembly  close  their 
eyes  t'ghlly  for  lialf  a  minute  or  m- re.  During  that  tin»e 
fix  your  mind  (irmly  on  tlie  who'e  assembly,  wi.ling  their 
c\es  to  remain  closed.  Then  tell  them  that  they  cannot 
0|)cn  their  e^'cs.  Perhaps  two  or  three  in  the  crowd  will 
be  able  to  do  t^o — (Duds  s:iys  about  one  in  twenty  live  on 
an  average),  'i  liosc  who  cmnot  open  their  eyes  will  be 
excellent  sid'jects  for  any  experiment  you  may  wish  to 
perf  rm  during  the  evening  ;  that  is,  if  yuu  can  get  them 
to  come  forward  and  snbniit  tht  inselves.  Next  try  the 
coin  experiment,  getting  as  many  individuals  to  submit 
themselves  as  possible.  We  will  not  repeat  the  directions 
given  in  a  preceding  chapter.    Whoa  you  (ind  a  subject 


who  is  easily  controlled  by  "  taking  ilie  communication" 
through  the  median  nerve,  with  thumb  on  the  foiehcad,  first 
experiment  in  controlling  his  muscles  ;  let  him  clasp  his 
hands  tightly  together  over  his  head,  across  his  knees,  and 
around  {I  cane,  stren-^thening  ;\our  influence  by  a  few 
passes  over  his  hands  before  telling  him  lh  »t  he  cannot 
separate  them.  Do  not  let  him  injure  himself  when  try- 
ing, in  vail),  to  lift  clntirs,  sticks  of  wood,  etc. 

Now  let  him  li')ld  a  knife  ti^hily  between  his  thumb  and 
fing^er  and  tell  him  he  cannot  drop  it  to  save  his  lifa 


THE  PEACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 

Then  tell  liim  ilic  knife  is  liot  and  will  burn  him.  A  Riis- 
ccptilile  subject  will  drop  tl'O  loii  e  instantly,  or  will  liold 
it  ;is  ]on>^  as  lio  can  bciir  the  imag  nury  pain,  and  then 
ilinr^  it  down  and  look  jit  his  hand  and  mb  it  in  ih"  most 
lud  croiis  m  .nnor.  Give  hitn  the  kiiifc  again  to  iiold,  and 
tell  iiiin  it  is  a  bznid.  "  See.  it  is  bc!L>'inning  to  ciawl  on 
your  hand  I  Lo  k — look  at  it  !"  lie  flmgs  it  to  ihe  lioor, 
anil  you  say  :  "  Tin  re,  tlieie.  it  is  crawling:  np  your  leg  I 
It  is  iictting  in  yonr  boo'  ;  pull  it  off— ^^ac/j OIF  couu'S 
tiuj  I'oot,  unless  yon  lell  him  the  reptde  h  ts  e-caped. 

Tell  h  m  lui  is  in  a  hornets'  nest,  and  let  Idiii  slap  away 
at  his  iniaginiiry  to- mentors  tor  a  while.  Pretend  to  rub 
Fonie  nied  cue  on  him — say  iodine — to  cure  the  ^*tihg8. 
When  he  appears  r<  li(n'etl,  tell  him  the  i odino  is  turning 
him  Hack,  lie  will  iry  in  vain  to  >ub  the  black  otf.  Now 
he  istu  ned  to  a  negro — y«'ii  cmh  Citll  on  him  lor  a  negro 
Btory — somelldng  about  robbiu-j;'  a  hen-roos^.  This  will 
create  agieat  (h.-al  of  amu-eujent  if  the  sebject  is  inclined 
to  be  huniorouM  \\ hm  in  a  rormal  state.  You  can  step 
his  speech  by  m.aking  a  pass  at  him  or  by  tellmg  him  ho 
cann  t  ^ay  another  wo d.  When  his  chicken  s'oiy  is 
done,  tell  hini  he  has  stolen  so  many  ch  ckens  that  he  is 
tiuMiinu- into  a  chicken  himself:  "Yes,  your  f-'atheis  are 
bei;inhing  to  grow  now.  J^ce  them  <  n  your  hi  ad.  And 
lo  k  Jit  Nour^purs!  (.h,  what  a  splendid  game  fowl  you 
aro  j:(»ing  lo  Ite  !"  'i'urniuu"  to  the  audience,  you  say  : 
"Lid  (,'s  jiud  genlletnen,  tids  is  a  per'eet  specim  ii  of  the 
?pani.->h  game  chit-ken,  an-l  tl«u  finest  in  t  u;  Stale.  Just 
he.ir  him  crinv."  \]y  this  tinni  y<  ur  mbject  is  slrutiing 
arom  d  in  the  most  mirth-pi <>vo1<ing  w;iy,  and  he  will  (row 
lusiily.  He  cm  be  m  :de  to  tight  an  imaiiuary  f-aiiiercd 
I'oe  d  you  choose  to  h  iv  -  him  <lo  so.  If  y  u  can't  spar 
liini.  Use  yonr  lists  on  him,"  you  say.  This  brings  him 
bat  k  to  a  humni  Icing  again.  Now  make  a  line  j'Cioss 
the  floor  and  tell  y<'nr  suhject  lo  knock  down  tlie  lirst  man 
who  cicss(  s  it.  Caution  the  audience  ag  iinst  stepping 
too  far^  t^r  he  will  strike  some  one  before  they  can  get  out 


162 


THE  TEACTICAL  CLAIEVOYANT. 


of  llic  way.  Tell  h'm  siidi  njr.nii'lstHtions  of  aiip^cT  arc 
entirely  wronir,  and  that  he  must  a>k  lbr«;iveiies8  of  the 
Kpectators  ;  not:  only  b<>,  I'nt  iliat  lie  must  pray  Heaven  for 
for^^iveiies-!.  lie  will  drop  t  >  his  ktiecs  if  y  n  ur.i^e  li  m  to 
do  s  and  will  pray  :iu>;ib!y  unlc-s  you  ciierk  l»:in  ;  but 
this  ex|)erini('nt  is  apt  to  sliock  the  scnsil)ilities  of  reli;j^i'  us 
people  aiul  peilinps  had  bett t  bv3  dispensed  with.  While 
lie  is  in  a  s  rious  mood,  infortn  liinj  ihat  his  f;dlier,  or 
brother,  or  some  other  dear  on<',  is  v»  ry  sick,  and  biin^ 
him  to  look  ai  the  sick  one,  who  is  rc|>rcseni<  d  by  S'  mo 
one  of  the  aud  encc  {  revionsly  instructed.  Let  him  sro 
his  rehitive  bei  oiue  a  corpse,  and  lu;  will  slu  d  tears  as  it' 
the  vision  were  a  reality.  Th  n  tell  him  ih  t  ii  is  a  case 
ol  catah  psy,  ;tnd  proceed  to  waken  the  supposed  dead  per- 
son. Win  n  y(.nr  subject's  spirits  are  res  oted,  inviic  iiim 
to  take  sonn?  recreation — to  g  »  I  untinjr,  lor  instance.  Get 
him  to  c  dl  the  elopes  ;  n  1  set  them  alter  a  labb.l  ;  then  to 
Bhoot  at  some  qu  tils  ;  then  to  catch  a  W(,undetl  one  in  the 
grass  ;  tell  him  t )  be  s!y  about  it,  and  he  will  Lc  as  cau- 
tious as  an  Indian. 

While  hutitin;:-,  a  thnnder-slorm  comes  up,  and  hn  seeks 
shelter.  The  thunde  r  continues,  and  30U  tell  him  it  is  not 
thunder,  you  arc  incl  ncd  to  thiidc.  "  No,  look  over  on 
that  hill  !  It  is  cannon  tiring.  There  are  the  slndis  bur.-t- 
ing — there  is  going  to  be  a  battle.  'J'h<yare  fu  :ng  this 
way.  Look  out !  Dodge  the  big  ones.  There  c»  me  ti  c 
sohiic  s.  Get  \onr  gun  ready,  for  we  must  fight  it  out," 
Tell  him  theic  is  a  sharp-shooter  trying  to  ^hoot  him  in  the 
leg.  Do  ni^t  let  him  get  wounded  in  a  vitil  sp(jt,  or  you 
may  have  a  har<l  cs  sc  of  it  in  truth,  "  There,  he  h;  s  hit 
you  in  the  Knee"  He  wiil  stagger,  and  peihaps  fall,  and 
you  must  carry  him  to  a  lounge.  Examine  the  ])!ace  ;  tell 
him  it  is  not  seiiou<,  but  that  a  wound  in  the  arm  is  really 
bad,  and  that  the  limb  wiil  hav<3  to  be  cut  oil*  above  the 
elbow.  Lay  bare  his  am),  and  t«  II  him  yon  are  g"ing  to 
make  it  insensible  by  me.-n.criz  ng-,  f-o  that  he  will  not  ia  1 
the  least  bit  of  pain  during  the  surgical  upcraiiou.  Make 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


163 


paj»scs  to  (1<  open  your  influence  over  llic  subject's  head 
and  body,  aud  ovvr  tlic  arm. 

Yi  u  \v\  \  find  that  the  limb  may  be' punctured  with  a 
nc('(!lo,  or  i)iiKh(  (l  severely,  witiiout  attracting  the  least 
attention.  Givo  him  ;i  li  ilo  water,  and  t<  11  liim  it  is  an 
opiiite,  a-  d  will  produce  the  mo-t  deli<;htfiil  dreams.  Y(iU 
can  let  him  take  a  j(;iirn('y  to  sec  distant  irieiids — vis"t  the 
jei;ioi  8  ol  r;»r;idirc  ai  d  htc  un^'cls  :Jiid  de:id  relatives — 
look  into  the  inrcnml  r<  g Ons — ti  avcl  in  loieigii  clim<  a — or 
anything  <  l8C  you  wish.  You  can  strengthe!i  the  im  res- 
siou  if  you  have  stjuie  smai  ))liot(.s  to  gaz  *  at  yourself, 
wh  le  talk  n;^-  to  him  of  the  vaiious  K  cm  s  they  n  pi es<  nt. 
Tell  l  im  lo  recollect  all  he'Vecs  ;  to  remember  it  wh«  n  he 
wakes  ;  and  to  be  sure  and  notice  everything  pnrticnhirly. 

liring  him  to  a  bouqu<  t  taMc.  an  I  1.  t  him  tasle  of  the 
liquors.  Give  him  a,  liiile  w.iter,  an  1  tell  hi?n  it  is  briindy 
alter  he  l  as  svvallow(d  it.  'i'his  will  make  h  in  drunk  ; 
tell  him  he  cam  ot  walk  stra'ght.  Let  him  take  something 
to  kill  the  alc«  hoi — some' lung  bitter  will  cause  hiui  to 
make  a  very  wry  f  ce.  Tell  him  to  get  np  and  slnike  off 
the  cflVcts  of  the  liquor  I  y  dancing  a  little.  Iluni  a  tune, 
ard  he  will  ke(  p  excellent  t  me  to  the  niu<ic.  Voti  can 
have  him  s  ng  a  soni:  it  you  wish.  B(  ing  imw  in  a  pleas- 
ant mood,  ill. press  him  to  remember  all  his  dieam,  and 
Wiiken  him  np  gradually,  tcllii  g  him  al  the  time  not  to 
forgi  t  what  lie  has  cx|  cr:ej:c<  d.  If  you  do  not  impicss 
him  10  lememl'ei-,  quite  likely  he  will  know  nothing  of  tho 
whole  mat  er  when  awakened. 

Thus  \\c  have  given  an  ontlir.c  of  experiments  in  psy- 
choid gy  moie  ;  s  a  guide  for  the  beginner  than  ;.8  a  ]  erma- 
nent  nn  del.  You  will  notice  ti  at  the  cluingcs  aic  giadual 
— nothing  is  abrupt,  but  that  the  mind  of  the  i-ubject  is 
somewhat  pn  pared  in  advance  f«)r  the  next  experiment. 
Too  great  care  in  this  lespect  cannot  betaken  in  regard  to 
impress  ons  of  a  serious  pliy.>ical  or  moral  nature. 

In  conclusion,  you  can  say  a  few  words  to  your  now 
serious  audience  about  the  importance  of  investigating  the 


164 


THE  PEACTICAL  CLAIEVOYANT. 


subject  "v  on  liavc  so  sncrcssfnll y  ilhistiMtod.  Tell  them 
tliat  TiK  siiicrisiM  is  imicli  iiioro  u.S(  d  t'san  they  area^vjuc  of. 
'J'liat  many  a  peddler  sells  Iiis  waies  moro  le.idily  »h'oni;h 
its  ajreiify.  'J  hat  a  sn<-(  (  S>lul  criminal  lawyer  «  mploys  it 
to  intliKMiee  a  snscep;ii''e  juryman.  Tlmt  even  ilic  noted 
revivalist  mny  soniclimes  nnconsriiuisly  nsc  its  power 
when  stion;jly  persnad in.L*:  sinners,  and  last,  but  n'>l  leas'", 
tliat  nui' li  which  tl:c  woi  ld  cnlls  "  love,"  is  ni-thing*  moro 
or  le-s  tlian  psj'c mlop^  c:d  influence,  and  the  CMnsecpience 
is  that  there  are  nuuierous  mi^mitehed  eouples  in  the 
bonds  ofmatriujony.  "  How  allimportai.t,  then,  that  every 
one  sljonld  become  th  'ronizhly  inlbrmed  on  this  str^ni^e 
and  wonderful  s  ience."  If  yuu  I  ave  any  jiood  works  on 
"  mes:j!(  rism,"  ofier  them  f  r  sa!e  ;  if  not,  then  «riv(?  tho 
audience  our  ad  Iress.  J.et;dl  t'i:it  y.»n  do  and  s;iy  be  ol' a 
nature  to  d  ffuse  a  knowledge  of  tho  suhjoet  ;  do  not  Linu:  in 
a  mysterious  wa}' ;  perfoi  in  nojug'gleiy,  but  be  frank  and 
open  in  eveiy  ti.ing-.  Act  withoui  coi  c<  :dmen»,  not  on!^^ 
f()r  your  individu  1  wcllare,  but  lor  the  wel  arc  <<f  a  science 
which  is  beg-  nning  to  claim  the  at.euiion  of  many  of  the 
leading  scientific  men  of  the  day. 


CHAPTER  EIGHTH. 

PECULIAR  CASES. 

We  p:ire  an  extract  from  a  letter  wrilten  by  J.  G.  Fore- 
man, while  in  Lexington,  Ky.,  and  which  was  pub.ished 
in  the  "  Maprnet"  : 

"The  object  for  which  I  commenced  this  communication 
was  to  relate  an  accident  that  occurred  wiih  the  lad 
already  alluded  to,  of  quite  an  alarming  character,  ami 
one  that  will  serve  as  a  caution  to  pcMsons  unacquainted 
with  the  nature  of  the  mysterions  intinencc.  Aft.  r  I  left 
Danvdle,  the  lad  was  maunetized  by  any  one  who  felt  an 
inclination  to  do  so,  notwithstanding  the  warning  1  gave 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAntVOYANT. 


165 


in  my  pubi  c  letrtnrc  of  the  d  »n^or  of  meddlinjif  wilh  it 
vvi.ljoiii,  a  Uiio\vle(lg>!  of  its  prim  iples  jmd  of  the  Imrn  iu 
Bysteni  in  f^rne  al.  The  conseqin  nco  was  that  in  a  s'lort 
time  Ik?  was  ve  y  tnucli  injiuvd.  Persons  were  allowed  to 
mauiK  tizc  l.im  on  v  u  ioiH  (  Crasions,  and  many  of  them,  in 
exciting  th"  d  flereut  parts  uf  th  ■  brain,  handled  him  very 
r  -n;:j  ily.  His  mind  bi'canje  cons  deral>ly  aff  ct»  d  and  din- 
tui  bed  him  in  his  sleep,  and  to  conclude  the  amount  of 
injury  dori"  hi'n  lie  linally  bee  ime  deaf  and  dumb. 

"  Several  d.iys  aft<'r  tiiis  occurrence  I  happetied  to  bo 
in  Danville  aj;ain.  I  saw  the  bid,  and  he  could  neither 
hear  iior  8p(iak.  He  used  a  slate  and  communicit«  d  wiih 
me  in  wriiin<2:.  He  seemed  viny  mucli  grieved  about  his 
affl'ciion,  and  h  id  already  learn<  d  tlie  deaf  and  dumb 
alphai-et  and  \va-»  beginning  lo  learn  signs.  He  had  ni»t 
V  lust  i  \c  meaioiy  of  words,  but  h  s  o  gans  of  lu  aring  and 
sp'  C(  h  iiad  become  paralyzed.  1  persuaded  him  to  sit 
d'twn  ;  nd  let  me  magnetize  him  propi  rly,  and  I  to  d  him 
it  would  probab'y  cure  him.  He  c -nsented.  and  in  a  few 
minutes  was  fist  asle<p.  Then,  while  in  this  conditon, 
ho  f»ave  an  account  of  tin?  cause  of  his  deafness,  and  stated 

that  Dr.  magnetized  him  on  several  occasions  for  the 

amusement «  f  liis  friends,  and  in  ex{>erim"nting  in  phn  no- 
m 'gnetism,  had  injured  his  bnin  by  the  rou^h  manner 
wi  ii  which  he  had  t  uclied  his  head.  He  also  attributed 
the  injury,  in  some  measure,  to  \  similar  treatment  from 
others  who  iiail  b  en  in  tli<i  habit  of  experimentinof  on  his 
brain.  This  statement  wascoi.fiimed  by  his  brother  and 
without  learniu<!:  anything  more  of  import anc(i  from  hiu), 
I  waked  the  lad  up.  As  he  opened  his  eyes  he  was  per- 
fect'y  astonished  to  s  e  me  in  the  room  ;  asked  me  when  I 
came  i)  Danville,  and  talked  to  me  Ireely  as  it  nothing 
had  happened.  We  soon  discovered  from  his  conversation 
thati  li ;  was  perfectly  unconsciou-!  of  the  lime  lie  had  been 
in  the  deaf  and  dumb  state,  and  upon  asking  hi-n  what 
day  it  was,  he  named  the  very  day  on  which  lie  f.  ll  into 
this  lemarkable  C(mdition.  He  had  no  recollecti«ui  of  being 
dei*f  and  dumb,  and  was  astonished  at  our  inquiries." 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRYOYANT. 


Dr  Underbill,  in  his  work  on  Mcsmcriam,  mentions  a 
case  which  happened  lit  a  party  of  yonng  fo'ks  af.er  .-orne 
nesvspiper  artic'e  was  read  on  this  new  subje  t.  No  one 
prt  sent  had  any  knowlo  Ige  of  liic  subjccL  or  was  ready 
to  own  any  belief  in  the  matter.    A  yomig  lad}'  propose  d 

to  Mr.  B  to  make  a  trial  on  her.    He  did  so  succL'ssfuily, 

and  afierward.s,  ai^ain  and  a'j^ain,  put  her  t)  slci  p  and 
brought  her  out  of  it  successfully.  Suddenly  tlierc  came 
a  change.  Slie  went  to  sleep  without  U  s  m-mipulationa 
and  contrary  to  his  uisli  or  desire,  and  no  one  cnuld  wake 
licr  but  himself.  "  It  harrassfd  my  life  our,  and  no  one 
can  imagine  my  anxiety,"  suid  ha  to  me.  *' She  to'd  me 
she  had  c  'mmenced  a  letter  to  her  parents,  in  whicli  slie 
Ihongiit  sho  would  dfjscribe  the  case.  '  The  moment  I  lixed 
my  mmd  upon  it  I  went  lobhep'"  He  went  olF  to  St. 
Louis,  detei  mined  to  st:iy  away  from  her.  'J'he  next  day 
came  a  message  tint  she  was  a-leep  and  that  he  must 
return.  'I'he  next  day  came  another,  and  he  refused  again. 
The  n  xt  day  c  imo  a  m"8s  igc  dt^elarin^-  that  she  wouhl  d  "e 
if  h«j  did  n..t  return.  This  compelled  him  to  return.  He 
wrote  East  for  information  what  to  do,  and  was  advised 
to  nie.smerize  her  as  deeply  as  he  could  and  ask  her.  illc 
obeyed,  and  she  tol  1  him  tiiat  he  must  mesnKM  ize  her  as 
deeply  as  he  could  for  a  few  days,  and  the  lastt  me  ket'p 
her  asleep  so  many  hours  I  have  f  »rg  )t;en  how  many), 
and  then  awake  her  and  Ijc  \ronld  have  no  more  trouble 
With  I  he  case.    And  so  it;  proved. 

The  following  is  extracted  from  a  letter  written  by  the 
Eev.  Wm.  II.  iBeecher  : 

"  In  October,  1842,  on  ray  way  to  the  Pynod  of  Genesee, 
I  spent  ttio  night  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Hail,  at  Byron.  In 
the  evening  i  called  on  Rev.  iMr.  Chil  ls.  On  entering  the 
room  I  found  his  son,  an  intelligent  boy  ten  3'ears  of  age, 
then  ia  a  cataleptic  fit,  sitting  in  his  falh(;r's  arms  and  his 
feet  in  warm  water.  In  a  few  minutes  ha  recovered.  He 
frequently  had  Irom  three  to  six  liis  a  day ;  had  rercivcd 
the  best  medical  atteudance  iu  the  region ;  was  no  better, 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


167 


daily  worse.    lie  had  for  pcvcral  d  jys  entirely  lost  the 
power  ot*  speech.    Greijt  foar.-*  were  felt  tliat  he  would 
iievc'i'iec  vcr.    There  was  a  sore  place  oii  th*^  back  of  his 
liead  and  ^pine,  occa-^ioned  by  alall  some  mouths  j)revioii'<. 
When  llie  nis  |  aased  ntt"  he  became  linngry  and  not  at  nil 
drow>y,  and  dining  the  intervals  he  j^ppean  d  prema  uiely 
brigii:,  and  en/aged  as  usual  in  sports  wiih  l  is  compan- 
ion-*.   Alier  I  had  conversid  a  few  minutes.  I  said:  *l 
would  have  him  magMn  tized.'    To  which  his  fatiier  repl  cd, 
'  I  don  l  believe  in  it  at  :dl,'and  the  m  ithiu*  ad'Icd,  *  If  y<»u 
will  put  jne  to  slei  p,  I'll  believe,  and  ni»t  witl.'out.'    I  re- 
plied, *!  Would  try  it;  it  may  do  gO'd  and  can  do  no 
harm.'    During  ih  s  conversation  I  m;ide  a  ft-w  passes  in 
front  of  the  ch  id,  ch  efly  v/iih  ou'r  hand,  and  without  any 
par  icular  concen  ration  of  tbo  min  i  or  wdl,  and  mostly 
with  my  face  Iowa  ids  the  mother.    In  less  than  a  minute 
tlni  la;h('r  said,  'He  is  in  another  fit.    No,  In?  isn't  ;  I  de- 
clare, 1  believe  he  is  asleep.'    Much  surprised  (for  1  liad 
never  mesmerized  one),  I  ^aid,  *  It  surely  cmnot  be  what 
I  have  di)ne,  but  if  so,  I  can  waken  him.'    Then  with  a 
few  revii.-ed  passes  he  awoke.    'Well,  this  is  strange,' 
Baid  1  ;  '  l)Ut  I  can  put  him  to  sleep  again  if  it  is  i^eal.*  I 
then  Seriously  repeated  the  pas-es  with  both  hands  ior  one 
or  two  minutes,  and  placed  him  in  a  peifect  mesmeric 
sleep.    I  then  lixed  m    eyes  on  a  lady  on  the  opposite 
Side  of  the  room — the  boy  not  having  spoken  for  three 
days— and  s aid,  *  Ilenry,  what  do  yo<i  sec'  ?    In  a  full, 
decided  voice,  he  replied,  '  Azubah'  I    I  then  looked  his 
mother  in  the  face,  saying,  '  What  do  3*011  ^ee' ?    IJe  gave 
a  name  unknown  to  me.    I  looked  to  his  father,  who  re- 
plied, 'It  is  her  maiden  name.'    1  then   took  vinegar  into 
my  month,  and  said,  'Wli  .t  do  you  ta^te' ?  'Vinegar,'— 
speaking  with  «:reat  tartness,  and  at.  the  same  time  mak- 
ing many  contortions  of  the  lace.    The  mother  now  whis- 
perid  to  one  of  the  ch  Idren  who  left  lier  seat,  and  I  said, 
*lleniy,  what  is  she  going  for'?    'Sugar,  and  1  love  it/ 
he  answered.    She  went  to  the  closet  and  brought  the 


168 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


snjjar  ;  I  put  some  into  my  mouth,  which  seemed  to  give 
him  tlie  sumo  pleasure  as  if  1  liatl  put  it  in  his  own.  I 
then  said,  •  What  kind  of  su^^ar  is  it'  ?  *  Muscin-ado.' 
'  Wliat  is  its  color'?  *  Wrll,  sir,  a  kind  of  liglit  brown/ 
A  sm  ill  ftdass  jar  wiih  a  large  cork  was  now  placed  in 
my  hard,  when  immediate'y  I  observed  the  olfactory 
nerves  affected  and  the  muscles  about  the  nose  contract 
at  the  same  moment.  I  s:iid  to  the  girl,  'What  is  it'? 
to  which  the  boy  answered,  '  Ilarlshurn.'  '  How  do  you 
know'?  'I  stnell  it.'  I  myself  neither  knew  nor  smelt. 
I  then  took  out  the  cork  and  applied  it  to  my  own  nose, 
when  he  instantly  placed  his  lingers  (,n  t'lat  ))art  of  the 
nose  next  the  foreliead,  an  i  haid,  'I  f  el  it  here';  just 
where  1  myself  expeiienced  the  burnin:.;'  sensation.  I  then 
silently  and  without  any  willing,  .md  with  a  fjeling  of 
curi  >s.ty  to  see  and  te  t  the  m  tter,  tone  led  *  Rever  nee.' 
Hig  couatenauce  at  once  a^sumod  a  softened  and  so!ema 


aspect.  'Ilenr}^  woul  1  j^ou  like  tj  pray'?  'Yes,  sir.' 
'  You  miy.'  lie  then  commenced  praying  inaudibly.  'You 
may  pray  aloi  d.'  Ih)  then  praye  I  i  i  a  low  audib  e  vo'ce. 
On  touch  ng  *  Tune,' he  sang,  though  not  in  tlio  habit «  f 
singing.    On  touching  *  CombativcuL'ss,' he  rjised  his  fist 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


to  strike  me.  He  was  i-novant  of  Phr(  nolop^y,  and  also 
of  my  intention  to  toixli  any  particular  organ  ;  nor  did  f, 
ill  any  case,  will  the  activity  of  the  organ  J  now  took 
out  my  wa'cli,  um'.  lioMing  llie  dial  towards  myself  and 
above  the  line  of  liis  vision,  his  eyes  being  cl.)8ed  and  his 
lipjid  1m)w*  d  forward,  and  my  hand  being  also  between 
him  and  tlie  watcli,  I  asked  h  m,  '  ilenry,  what  time  is  it'  ? 
'  Eig  lit  o'clock,  si';  whcli  was  exactly  the  time  by  the 
watch,  lhon«;h  by  the  dock  in  the  rooin  it  wms  lift*  en 
minnt  h  fa-ti  r.  1  now  left  him  for  an  hour  and  w.  nt  back 
to  Mr.  Llal 's,  giving  h  in  leave  to  converse  (mly  with  his 
father  On  my  return  1  lonnd  him  in  the  same  istutc.  lie 
utterly  rel'usf  d  to  speak  to  any  one  except  tiis  father,  and 
told  l.im  'hat  he  sli  uM  net  have  ano  her  fit  till  the  next 
Sabb  ath  (this  \\  as  Monday  evening),  which  proved  tru ;  ; 
but  when  that  day  came  he  liad  several.  One  day  alter 
that  Sabbath  he  cam  -  to^iis  mother,  much  aj^itited  and  ap- 
p  rently  goi.  g  into  a  tit,  and  m.ikin'4"  the  pa>8  s,  he  asked 
her  io  <lo  it  ;  who,  merely  topacily  hirn,  pa  st  d  her  fingers 
ove  •  him,  and  soon  he  passed  into  the  iiifNineric  sleep,  and 
escsip  d  t  e  lit.  After  this  he  was  so  highly  charged  by 
his  sister  that,  whrn  she  was  in  the  n  xt  room  in  the 
closet,  he  wonid  ins  an  ly  tas  e  anything  she  tasted,  eat 
what  s!  e  ate,  etc.  Jn  ten  days  I  retnrned  and  magnrt  ze  I 
him  again,  and  went  through  scvi^r;.!  of  the  above  expeii- 
m  nts.  lie  ahvay-i,  while'  in  the  mesmeric  state,  declared 
that  it  benefited  him,  relieved  ail  pain,  and  would  euro 
him  Afier  1  1.  ft,  at  my  su/irestion.  he  was  daily  mag- 
netiz  d.  His  fits  1  ft  him,  h  s  voice  returned,  the  noie 
spots  on  his  head  and  back  were  healed,  and  he  iec<)vered 
rapidly,  till  the  family  coul  I  no  loMg«r  mesmerize  him,  A 
man  in  the  village  was  found  who  could  a  d  dai  y  did.  till 
he  appe  red  entirely  well.  On  omitimg  it  he  had  a  lit  or 
two,  and  it  was  resumed,  and  when  1  last  saw  tlie  father 
he  inlorraed  n.e  that  they  considered  the  c  ill  cured." 

We  now  give  un  im:ident  which  iiappt  iied  when  we 
gave  an  exhibiiion  of  magnetism  at  a  certain  place,  as- 


171 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRTOTANT, 


sisted  by  two  of  our  pupils.  In  the  cveninp:,  1  ef  )rc  lec- 
ture t'me,  we  Imd  all  partaken  of  a  Inncli,  but  from  some 
iinacconntabU;  causo  we  liecame  very  sick  at  tlio  8tom  ich, 
the  nausea  lasting  about  li;»lf  an  liotn-,  tli  'U^h  our  two 
Companions  were  not  afTcctetl.  After  the  lecture  was 
ended  we  took  cliar>:c  of  two  of  tlic  aud.enco  wi;o  ramo 
forward  to  be  maj^neiized,  while  our  Iwo  assistants  took 
char;:;c  of  some  nioro.  Just  as  we  had  brought  omi  of 
them  into  the  magnetic  state,  by  the  C'  in  cxper  menr,  as 
previously  explained,  he  I  ec;imo  deadly  sick  at  his 
Ktomach,  and  at  l.«st  vomited  profusely.  This  wascmirely 
unlookcd  for,  but  we  quickly  set  a  chair  on  the  11  lor  and 
threw  a  shawl  over  it  so  as  to  hid. 3  the  lonths  ane  sight 
frt)m  the  asti»nished  au<lience,  and  then  took  charge  of  an- 
other subject  which  one  of  our  ])upi!s  had  mesmrr'z  d 
•while  we  were  operating.  The  audienctj  secnK d  to  think 
the  whole  affair  a  p  irt  of  the  programme,  and  t  e  man 
told  MS  I  hat  he  was  often  subjected  to  such  attacks.  Our 
Bubsequcfit  experience  has  inclineil  us  to  t.ie  belief  that 
our  own  sickness  was  transferred  to  the  system  of  the 
snliject,  at  least  to  such  an  extent  as  t>  indm  e  the  un- 
pleasant sensations  which  resulted  so  ridiculously. 


CHAPTER  NINTH. 

WELL- ATTESTED  WONDERS. 

MooRE,  in  his  "  Use  of  the  Body  in  Relation  to  the  Mind," 
Bays:  "There  is  another  form  of  supersensnons  vision,  for 
the  existence  of  which  we  can  scarcely  di -cover  sufBoic^ht 
reason,  unless  to  intimate  an  un<leveloped  faculty,  which, 
in  another  state,  may  be  proper  to  nann?.  The  natme  and 
character  of  this  strange  endowment  will  be  best  expressed 
in  the  language  of  one  who  believed  himself  to  be  possessed 
of  it.  Ileinrich  Z-Jchokke,  a  man  remarkable  f^r  the  ex- 
tent of  bis  iiouorublc  labors  as  a  statesman  and  an  author, 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


171 


solemnly  writes  ilic  following  passrigc  in  Iiis  an^obiogra- 
pliy:  '  It  has  happened  to  luc  Fonicliines,  on  my  first  inret- 
\i]g  wiih  str.in.nci  s,  as  1  sil*  ntly  listened  to  tlieir  di>conrso, 
that  their  iorrniT  lite,  with  many  tritling  circnnistancea 
tlierewith  eo  inecied,  or  freqti'Mitl v  soino.  particular  scene 
in  that  life,  has  passed  qm'tc  involuntarily,  and,  as  it  were, 
dreani-l.ke,  yet  p<  rfectly  distinct,  liefoie  me.  Dnrin^i^  this 
time  I  usually  feel  so  entirely  absorbed  in  the  contt-mpla- 
ti'in  of  t!:e  stranger's  lile  that  at  last  I  i;0  longer  see 
clearly  the  f;ice  of  the  unknown  wherein  I  nndcsi^:n<  dly 
rca<1,  nor  cistinct'y  hear  the  voices  of  tlie  speakers,  winch 
bef're  served  in  home  leea^uie  as  a  cnmmentary  on  the 
tt  xt  !  f  their  features.  For  a  !<  ng  lime  I  held  such  visions 
as  a  delusion  of  the  laucy,  and  the  more  so  as  ihey  showed 
me  ev<  n  the  dre>s  and  motions  of  the  actors,  rooms,  furni- 
tuic,  and  o  lier  aeces-or:es.' 

"  lie  WiiS  at  lei'gth  ast<  nished  to  find  his  dream-pictures 
invariably  ct  nfirmed  as  r;  jdiiies,  and  ho  relat<  s  this  in- 
f-tance  5  8  an  ex  imph;  of  his  visionary  j:ift:  *  One  day  in 
the  city  of  \Va!d>hut  I  en'eied  an  inn  (The  Vine),  in  com- 
pany with  two  young  sui-ients.  \Vc  supped  with  a 
numerous  company  at  the  tabh*  d'hote,  v/here  the  guests 
were  making  very  meiry  with  the  pcculiai  itics  of  the 
Swiss,  with  Mesincrs'  magneti-m,  Lavntei's  ph^siog- 
noMiy,  etc  Oik^  of  my  companions,  whnse  nation. d  pride 
was  Wounded  by  their  mockery,  beg<icd  me  lo  make  Komo 
rep'y,  paniculaily  to  a  handsome  young  man  who  sat 
o  posite  to  us,  and  who  Inid  allowed  liMnself  extraordinary 
license.  This  man's  lite  was  at  that  moujent  pres«'nted  to 
my  min  i.  I  turned  to  him  and  aske  l  whether  he  would 
ansvvt  r  me  candidly,  if  1  lelated  to  him  some  of  the  most 
secret  passag -s  of  ids  life,  I  knowing  as  little  of  him  per- 
sonally as  he  did  of  mo.  lie  |>rotnised,  if  I  were  correct, 
lo  admit  it  frankly.  I  then  k dated  what  my  visinn  had 
shown  me,  and  the  wh<<le  company  weie  m  tde  acquaifitod 
with  the  private  histoiy  of  the  young  merchant — his  school 
years,  his  youthful  errors,  and,  lastly,  with  a  fault  com- 


172 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


mitted  in  reference  to  llie  st  ongboxof  lis  principal.  I 
doNcribcd  llie  iin  in  habited  room  vvitli  wliiicntd  walls, 
wluTc,  to  the  right  of  the  brown  floor,  on  a  t:il>!e,  stood  a 
bl.ick  money  box.  etc.  A  deud  silence  prevailed  during 
the  uhnle  narrative,  which  I  occrtsionally  inteirnpted  by 
inqiiiiing  wlietlier  I  spoke  xho  truth  The  startled  youn;; 
man  confirmed  every  particubir,  and  <  vcn,  what  I  scarcely 
expected,  the  last  mentioned.  Touched  by  his  candor,  I 
shook  hands  with  him,  and  said  no  more.  lie  is  probably 
stdl  living.' " 

Ir,  is  record*  d  that  Apolloniu^  Tvrannu^  was  a  man  of 
prodiyrious  magnet  c  ability,  not  only  lor  curing  disoas(^s, 
bnt  for  clairvoyance,  and  for  accurate  prevision.  Attlie 
time  that  the  tyrant  Fmperor  Domitian  was  being  assas- 
sinated at  Rome,  Apollonius  was  deliveiing  a  |.ul<lic  lec- 
tu  e  at  Ephesus,  in  the  midst  of  a  large  audience.  He 
paused  in  the  midst  of  his  address,  and  described  minut(dy 
to  t  le  crowd  the  circumstances  of  the  Emperoi's  murder, 
and  aTinounccd  the  very  moment  wh<  n  he  was  slain.  It 
wag  afterward  found  that  ihe  di  scription  was  true  in  every 
respect,  and  the  wonderfid  incident  has  been  recorded  in 
history  as  well  au  henticated.  It  is  said  that  Ap  llonins 
possessed  so  great  a  nervous  inlluence  ih  (t  he  cou'd  quell 
riots  by  his  mere  presence,  without  utterin-j:  a  sin>;le  word. 

Once  upon  a  time,  wheri  the  Queen  of  Sweden  was  jest- 
ing Swedenborg,  with  lespect  to  his  pretensions  to  inter- 
cou  se  with  th<i  s  iritual  world,  he  offered  lo  Convinc  ii  r 
of  the  fact  in  any  wMy  she  might  sujgest.  She  told  him 
tliat  her  husband,  the  late  king,  at  the  moment  of  deatii, 
when  she  was  tdone  with  h  m,  had  whi^pelc<l  something 
very  important  to  her,  and  if  he  (Swedmborg)  coukl  tell 
what  tlic  king  had  said,  she  would  yield  the  point. 
The  next  day  fewedenborg  called  on  the  queen,  and  after 
ment oning  that  he  had  held  a  communication  with  tlio 
deceas  d  king,  who  had  informed  him  of  the  seciet  mes- 
sage, he  repealed  it  to  her  Her  majesty  fiint  d  away,  and 
on  recovering  cxprefcsed  the  greatesi  astunishment  at  the 


THE  PEACTICiVL  CLAIKVOYANT.  I'J 

pliilosoplior's  revelation,  ai  d  w;is  qtiitc  ready  to  admit  liis 
claims.  The  cliiiivoyance  of  Swedt'iibcM'^  must,  bo  ail- 
mitti'd,  no  maMn*  what  v'cws  may  <  iit(  rt  .iiicd  with 
rcgMrd  to  iiis  ibeoh^ cal  ideas.  A  reinaikabe  t  a>e  w.is 
r«  lat' d  to  lis  by  a  c'er^vman  whose  veracity  was  nn- 
dciibteil.  IJis  child  lay  at  the  point  of  death  IVotn  croup. 
As  a  bist  n  so  t  the  attendant  physici.m,  a  njagnctizer, 
calle  i  in  ih'^  aid  of  a  clairvoyant,  who  often  accompanied 
h  ni  to  his  p  itienls.  When  in  the  ma^^netio  stare  tiio  ebiir- 
voyant  <:e>cribed  the  remedy  for  the  child  as  beiie^  li  t  lo 
the  laste  ;  he  gav(.'  a  fun  iter  d  scripiion,  and  finally  spoke 
the  name  of  the  remedy,  "cayenne  pe[)per."  He  directed 
t  lat  it  should  l>e  applied  cxtf^nally  to  the  cliiM's  tiiro  it,  in 
tlio  form  of  a  poultice  The  physician  followed  the  pre- 
scription, and  the  child  was  saved,  alrhougli  in  the  normal 
state.  Tiie  clairvoj^ant  was  entirely  ignorant  of  "  MATi'MaA 
MEOiCA."  Many  instances  of  a  still  more  remarkable  na- 
ture are  on  leconl,  and  equally  well  anthenticat  d.  As  a 
remarkable  instance  of  liie  |  ower  of  human  nlagneti^m 
over  \hii  bru'e  creation,  w(!  pi(  sent  the  lollowing  <  xiract 
from  a  lecture  delivered  in  St.  James  Ha'l,  London,  by 
Ileibcrt  llanulton,  15.  A.,  author  of  "Na'ural  Forces,'*  and 
several  other  works:  '  In  the  year  lh50  I  was  ai  Leam- 
ington, in  England,  where  1  delivered  two  lectiu'es  on 
p-ychology.  a  c 'in-nittee  of  gentlemen  prop  )sed,  aft<T 
the  second  lecture,  1  should  pay  a  v  sit  to  W.jnibweb'a 
ni  na^erie,  theti  stopping  in  that  i-Iace,  lo  try  my  p  -wers 
on  >ome  of  the  animals.  At  ten  o'ch.ck  in  the  evening  tho 
beasts  were  fed.  Arriving*  ten  minut(S  I'cfoie  this  time,  I 
passed  fu  ir  of  the  cajc^s  in  leview,  and  subjecte  I  the  two 
lions,  a  j  ickal,  and  a  13en^al  tiger  t  >  psychologidl  fascina- 
tion. Tne  aninials  were  at  this  tune  veiy  t-avag(5  and 
nvenou-,  as  is  usual  ;it  fi'eilir  g  t  me.  To  the  snrpiisc  of 
all,  the  lour  animaU  n  fuse>l  to  move,  butl  ly  crouching  in 
the  r  cages,  not  uoticiiu'  ilio  food«iive!i  lo  Ihem.  'J  he  pr(j- 
priet.or  and  keeper  became  alarmeil,  feiring  they  were 
Bick.    1  Buggesied  thj  keeper  should  cater  tome  of  their 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


cagrs  and  examine  liis  charges.  This  lie  refused,  saying 
it  was  more  than  his  lile  was  worth  to  go  in  at  leedin;^ 
time.  1  Ih  n  re(iU"sLLd  p'M*m;ssion,  wliicli  (al'ter  cxpl;iin- 
iiig  tliC  ijiflii(?ncG  the  animals  wuro  under)  was  readily 
granted  ;  and  like  a  second  Daniel,  I  entered  the  lions  den. 
The  lingo  bi  a^^ts  took  no  notice  of  me  whatever.  Then  I 
appioaehed  them  ami  subjected  botn  to  further  influence, 
When  they  conimeiu^c  d  to  play  with  me,  skipping  and 
jumping  l.ke  two  kittens.  After  leaving  tin?  den  1  removed 
the  spell  and  they  were  ns  savage  and  noisy  as  ever. 
Hundreds  witnessed  this  peiTormance,  Vv'iiich  took  place 
November  12,  1850."  A  correspond«  nt  of  tlic  Amei  ieaii 
Phrenol'gicalJournal,  writing  from  W^asidngton  Territo  y, 
gives  the  following  account  of  in  iian  magnetism,  under 
date  of  July,  18C4:  "A  few  evenings  sinc(,*  J  was  inmoied 
by  a  vi>it  from  the  chief  of  the  Inapomish  Inli.ais,  Ka'-num, 
and  thinking  to  amuse  and  astonish  hiin,  1  threw  a  young 
man  into  the  mesmeric  s  ate,  fasten mI  his  head  to  the  tabh^, 
his  feet  to  the  11  lor,  and  punctured  his  hand  wiih  a  pin, 
witht/Ut  any  symptoms  of  p  »in,  etc.  On  asking  the  chief 
what  he  thought  ol  it,  he  replird,  ^  meman  iamanius'  (small 
per!ormanc<  ),  and  then  related  the  do'ngs  of  a  certain 
'  mctlieine  man '  of  his  tribe.  Ue  said  that  he  invariably 
healed  the  sick  by  lading  on  <  f  hands,  and,  when  necs- 
3ary  to  |>erform  any  surgical  operation,  he  Juhbed  iho 
patient  until  he  w.js  insensible  t»  j^ain  ;  and  th(  n  <1  welt 
with  great  enthusiasm  uj  on  his  '  li'Vianiii.-i  stukivub,*  or 
magnetic  stick  which  he  said  the  doctor  often  caus^-d  to 
danre  and  pass  all  ar-iund  tin?  wigwam  overhead,  without 
touching  It.  1  askeil  lio\v  he  did  this,  and  he  lepliel: 
'  Hy  j)lai'inga  numi  erof  pei  sons,  cf  bo- h  sexes,  in  a  circle, 
all  witli  sticks  ia  their  hands,  which  they  pointed  t  -ward 
the  do  tor's  sti(  k,  he  standing  in  the  d  iiter  of  the  circle 
and  pointing  his  stick  upward.  A  song  was  then  sung,  in 
which  all  joine  l,  keeping  time  with  their  feet,  and  occa- 
si-mally  by  punc  lin^;-  tln  ir  sticks  ag  linst  i he  board  roof  of 
the  wigwam,  until  the  doctor's  stick  would  leave  hia  hand 


THE  PTIACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 

and  pass  ovor  tlicii-  lieuds",  sometimes  so  violcntJy  Ihnt 
they  liaii  to  croucli  (1<?wii  to  avoid  its  blow.'  I  liiive  f  ill 
conlidc'iico  in  tiie  triitli  of  tliis  statcfiicut,  niid  it  may  throw 
some  addition  tl  li-lit  on  the  jilictiomcnn  attributed  to 
spirit  ori;^in,  now  witufsscd  all  over  the  wor'd. 

"  llcspectf.illy  yours,  H.  H.  S.,  M.  D." 

Wc  know  an  instance  wliero  a  proaclier  con<Uictcd  <% 
rcrgions  meeting  and  brought  about  Wonderful  results 
IlirMugli  tin;  agency  of  anim  il  ma-jfnetism  He  had  a  fash- 
ion of  bhuking  hands  with  thosj  of  the  audleuco  who  stood 


near  tljo  pulpit,  and  while  shaking  wiih  one  band  bo 
wo M  place  the  other  on  the  head  of  tb  ^  you.'g  p- rsou 
whose  hai.d  h  ;  held.  Among  those  who  n  he  tiea'ed  thus 
was  a  half<:rown  boy  who  hud  been  mesmerized  by  a 
magnetic  ]>hy<ici;in  s  )me  months  previous.  Of  course 
this  l.d  quickly  detcc  cd  the  pe  idi  r  sensation  of  mes- 
merism  pnxhired  by  i' e  "la.\in4'  on"  of  ilie  |)r<'acher's 
b.n<ls.  This  g.ivc  t'C  alarm,  and  the  lew  wh  »  were  post  d 
on  the  subj  -ct  of  mesnwnsm  quietly  watched  ih  •  pro-ress 
i  f  the  meeting,  autl  detected  t li<;  cl<  rieal  -enticman  actu- 
ally making  n  (  smcric  pa^S"s  during  the  C  'nfnsi'.n  a'tend- 
iu^  the  "'anxious  seat'' demonstrations,    liefore  the  meet- 


176 


THE  PKACTICAL  CLAIRYOYANT. 


ing  doPcd  Diimbei  s  went  into  a  "  ti'ovce"  and  the  mani- 
f.vstaiioiis  were  su' li  as  to  attr;ict  tlie  aiteiition  ol  tlic  peo- 
ple i'<  Y  mWi  s  arc  und.  '1  lirougli  ihe  ag-cncv  <  tl  e  bef'ie- 
niciitioi  cd  lew,  several  of  tlie  ''.<leepns"  were  l)i()noht  out 
ol  their  Irovce^'^  and  this  fact  opened  tiic  <  yes  of  the 
nutie  thiid<ing'  ])i  rtion  of  the  coiiiiiii:n  ty.  and  then  the 
denj()n>tra  i.-ns  oi adually  d  rninished  in  mngniiude.  Be- 
liev  n,u:  trmly,  av  Ih  all  due  re^pect  to  lhu>e  ciimch  ineni- 
l)'  rs  who  hoiicstly  d  Her  fn  ni  ns,  that  iiiagiietism  was  at 
the  I  ('ttoni  <  f  the  wlmle  afla  r  in  ihis  c:ise,  we  d(  termined 
to  test  the  inaiter  for  our  own  individual  sat  s'action.  i^o, 
one  n  ght,  when  th(^  excitement  uas  at  ihe  very  highest, 
we  fix»  «l  our  mind  I  rmly  on  one  ex(  it' d  3'ouiig  m.m,  win  so 
eye  we  hapi)ened  to  catch,  and  willed  him  to  iiustantly 
shake  I  aiids  w  ih  ns.  As  quick  as  a  (lash  of  lightning  I  e 
lunged  iorward  tiirough  tlie  lanks  of  the  sunounding  hy- 
st.iiiders  and  g'laspe  I  <  \\v  hand  in  iho  most  lervt  nt  m  n- 
ner.  Of  c«)nrso  the  inc.d«  nt  eausi  d  much  at  entio  1  from 
the  audience,  wh  t  we; 0  lujt  in  liic  secret.  S- v:  ral  otti<  r 
experiii  eiits  ot  like  diar;  ctt  r  were  quite  a^  snccc-sfid  in 
tlieir  r<*su't'.  Pome  of  the  veiy  besr,  snljec  s  we  ever 
hm.dled  \\et(^  persoi  s  who  ire<|U"  iitly  «  ni<  re<l  ihe  "fra-'Ct^' 
state  at  leviv.ils,  at  times,  t  o,  when  \.o  niisirui  u  ons  miii- 
is'cf  w ;is  deceiving  iho  ic  plo  with  /yintj  ivonders.''  Wo 
do  n  tn.  y  th  it  a  I  the  '  r<  ihvaL  troiuya''  .-no  produced  by 
sonie  m:ig!:etiz(M-;  but  that  tlie  i)!ie!  <)meiia  is  of  ;i  magin-t  c 
character,  so  (:ir:is  its  imivsical  m  FKJTi  are  coiiccrm d,  uill 
n-'t  bo  deniid  by  jmy  one  who  li.is  1 1  <  11  tliC  p.uns  to 
investigate.  >'ometimes  it  is  not  un  ikc'y  that  tht)  condi- 
tion is  induced  I  y  nervous  exh.iusiion,  c onsequ' nt  upon 
great  m<  ntal  excitement.  In  conclns on,  um;  will  lemirk 
tliat  i  ven  catalepsy  m.iy  be  )>roiineed  in  tluj  same  m  inner  ; 
in  legird  to  wliuh.  we  jiive  ihe  tullowin^- extract.  Dr. 
KiuL'-,  in  his  w^ak  <  ntit'ed  •  The  Anieriean  i'hysician  " 
uses  the  f<jll(> -vin^,*  l;inunagG  in  legnrd  to  tliat  sin^n'ar  dis- 
ea>e  knmvu  as  "  cat  i/ep<ii,  or  (rance^\'  *' Cat  jilep-y  is  tint 
Condi iiQu  in  which,  without  any  fever  necissaiity,  a  person 


THE  PKACnCAL  CLAIBVOTANT. 


17T 


losrs  tlic  power  of  voluntary  motion  for  a  long-cr  or 
sliorter  time,  w  th  a  pai  tial  or  complete  su>:pen'-io!i  of  tlio 
five  senses  ;  the  mnsdes  leinj^  sometimes  n<:iil  and  at 
otlior  lim<'s  fiiovab'e,  keopim;-  the  p  )siiion  in  whieh  ili'-y 
were  when  att;ieked,  or.  in  wliich  ih  y  m;iy  he  placed  hy 
otiier  peisoiis  snbsei|iieiitly.  It  contiiMie««  f  r  a  lon.2^er  or 
sliorler  time,  wh  n  it  sni  sid-  s,  leavinp^  the  person  in  his 
nsnnl  li<  alth,  l»nt  wiihont  any  rceollecti  n  of  what  lias 
pa-sed.  It  Very  mncli  r<  S'  mhlfs  t'lC  cond  tion  pr  duced  by 
nlc^merism.'*  In  speakin^j^  of  t' c  treatmei.t  «  t  ^nch  c^ses, 
lie  goes  on  to  say  :  '1  have  seen  a  m<  smerizcr  m  d\e  h  s 
mesmeric  pisses  ftr  a  (•  w  minut's  over  a  c  naleptio  pa- 
tient, and  imm<  di;it<  ly  aft<  r  either  awnken  him  or  t  o  able 
to  conver.-e  with  him  l'r<  el}' dnrinLT  the  p  iroxysm,  and  [ 
have  seen  night  somna-nbulisni  cured  by  tlio  smne  m  thod; 
but  I  do  n(»t  pro'ess  to  nnderstand  how  or  why  this  ptcu* 
liar  influence  was  tflcCiCd." 


CnAPTER  TEXm 

8ELF-M.AG  S  ETISM.  —  CLAIRV(  (YAXCE. 

Wf.  will  concbub'  by  giving  explicit  directions  how  to 
mcsmci  ize  one's  self — th'*  stmngest  thing  of  all.  Let  tlic 
operator  pla«  c  th(?  subject  rpoii  a  chair  or  so'a  wliere  ho 
can  rest  cut  rely  at  eas<».  Then  tin;  sub  ject  w  II  close  th ; 
(•y«  s  ai  d  remain  oitirely  pa-si vo  in  mind  and  comp'e:ely 
relax*  d  in  body,  without  st  rring  in  t!ie  leas'.  'I  he  opera- 
tor will  instruct  tin.'  subject  to  throw  his  mind  to  some 
familiar  place;  where  he  (the  subject)  has  been  and  where 
he  would  be  glad  lo  go  ag;«in,  ev<  ii  menially.  The  oper- 
a'or  must  keep  t!ie  miml  of  the  subject  on  ihe  place  he 
s  eks  nicntally.  by  speaking  to  him  and  reqnes'in^  him  to 
i!na.rin<'  himsi  lf  leaily  there,  and  to  ibrm  a  mental  image 
of  the  place  or  persons  he  is  endeavoring  to  see.  If  the 
subject  gets  tired  of  one  place,  his  attenli-ui  must  bo 
diiecied  to  another,  and  bO  on   until  he  really  ecenid  to 


IIB  THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYAIH'. 

« 

see  the  place  liis  ruiii'l  is  looking"  at — whicli  peculiar  men- 
tal (and  pliysiciil)  state  is  calie  i  clairvoyance. 

If  patience  and  perseverance  ;ire  extMcised,  the  result 
may  be  sut  cessful  at  the  (irst  trial ;  thougli  it  Homctiines 
happens  than  twenty  or  tliiity  Kitti.iirs  may  take  placo  be- 
fore tiie  sabjert  will  resign  liimse'f  as  completely  as  is 
neceshJiry.  After  a  lew  times  of  practice  the  subject  will 
be  eiiablcil  to  cuter  the  clairvoyant  ntate  w  thout  the 
assistance  of  an  operator  to  keep  his  mind  on  the  matter. 
It  is  best  to  have  some  one  piesent,  however,  lest  the 
subj  -et  get  to  waiidrriiig  about  like  a  sleei)-walker. 

When  persons  arc;  ent«  rin.u;'  the  magnet  c  state  by  this 
meHiod,  they  become  drowsy  and  experience  a  swimming 
ot  the  head,  together  with  a  tingling  sen>ation  ail  f)ver  it. 
Somi;  ima.L^ine  themselvi  s as  ligiii  ;is  a  leather,  while  others 
feel  as  i hough  they  were  siidvingdown,  I  ut  i  on  ;  I'e  1  partic- 
ularly unpleasant.  The  oper.it'>r  will  find  that  he  cannot 
waken  them  nnless  they  t  hoose  t  >  do  >o,  and  he  will  be 
obliged  to  let  them  use  their  own  pleasure.  Un'css  the 
subjects  ure  rendnded  that  they  must  reeolleet  what  they 
expeiience  in  the  clairvovant  sta'c,  tliey  will  htve  no 
knowledge  of  what  has  transpired  <luring  the  sitting. 
What  they  icsolve  while  in  the  .--tate  to  rimemher  when 
awake,  will  not  be  luigolten,  whether  it  be  a  part  or  all 
of  their  experience. 

They  Can  do  more  ;  they  can  rid  themselves  of  bad 
habits;  th(3'Can  banish  disease;  they  can  siicngtlicn  their 
mental  powers;  ;dl  by  siinply  reso!vin;j^  wij  L;  c  airvoyant 
to  d  )  so.  But  still  more;  they  wdl  be  ab!e  t  •  tlirow  any 
part  of  their  body  into  the  mesmeric  state  at  will,  even  to 
a  little  finger;  in  short,  a  cnmplish  by  their  own  will 
what  is  spoken  of  in  a  preceding  chapter  as  being  bionght 
about  by  the  will  of  the  oi)eiator. 

The  clairvo^-ant  state  may  be  rem'^mbered  in  many 
cases  (especially  if  no  operator  is  present),  as  oidy  a  sleep 
wiih  many  vivid  dreams  ;  or  it  may  be  almost  real  in  its 
life-like  intensity.  The  state  is  o  ten  produced  by  the 
usual  magnetic  passes,  and  as  every  operator  will  be 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIRVOYANT. 


17D 


likoly  to  witness  cl  n'rvoyant  mani Temptations,  we  will  p^ivc 
a  few  hints  liow  to  instruct  ilio  subjects  who  show  a  dis- 
position to  hccorne  clairvoyant. 

Do  not  iillovv  tlicni  to  he  biased  by  yoni  mind,  bnt  teach 
them  to  sec  5ibs(Mit  thin<^s,  places  and  persona,  independent 
of  wliat  may  be  in  ynur  thoughts  as  operator.  When  a 
suljc'Ct  bc;;ii!S  to  "sec  thinj^s  wilii  his  eyes  «lmt,"  pbice  a 
band  tg'c  over  his  eyes  (if  you  wish  to  make  a  sure  test), 
and  let  some  one  of  the  audience  place  a  pocket  knife  in 
the  clairvoyant's  hand.  Tiicn,  if  half  a  dozen  bystanders, 
including  the  owner  of  tlic  kni''e,  whf)  presented  if,  will 
stand  near  the  clairvoyant,  ha  will  lake  the  hand  of  each 
om.'  at  a  time,  and  give  t!i(^  knife  to  the  person  whom  ho 
detects  ns  ihc  owner.  He  will  be  able  to  read  words 
placed  against  his  foiehf^ad  ;  to  describe  pictures  by  run- 
ning iiis  lint;('rs  over  them;  to  give  tiie  contents  of  distant 
rooms  witii  which  lie  is  not  acquainted;  to  describe  distant 
places  he  has  never  seen,  and  even  give  the  thoughti  of 
persons  present. 

If  the  Hubject  looks  to  you  for  answers  he  will  speak 
ihc  impressions  deiived  from  your  thonghts  ;  but  if  he 
holds  hijuself  indepvnd  n^,  and  is  nf)t  led  by  the  mind  of 
any  one  pre>ent,  he  will,  if  a  good  subj  cf,  disclose  reve- 
lations whicli  will  sislonish  and  even  alaini  the  audience. 

Those  clairvoyants  vvlro.read  i\u*  solution  of  quesiiona 
in  the  minds  of  others  are  called  dependent  clairvoyanU ; 
tho-e  who  a'O  not  iuflu(3nced  b}*"  surroundings  arc  inde- 
pewienl  dairvjyant.^,  and  ai(;  by  tar  the  most  reliiible  ;  but 
nothing  is  sure  when;  outside  mental  influence  may  so 
easily  prodn.  e  a  false  impression  on  the  subject's  mind. 

It  is  an  easy  thing  to  send  a  subject  on  a  mental  jour- 
ney to  a  dis  ant  friend,  or  to  the  realms  above,  or  the  re- 
gions beneath,  if  you  tell  hit!j  to  go  while  in  a  mesmeric 
slumber,  and  the  incidents  of  liis  travel  will  appear  real 
to  hiin.  To  tin?  !nind  of  an  ignorant  person  it  would  seem 
he  h;is  really  made  the  trip  in  spirit,  but  it  is  very 
plain  I  hat  he  is  menially  subordinate  to  the  operator  who 
g^ivcs  him  the  first  impulse,  and  ihen  leaves  hiiu  to  linisb 


ISO 


THE  PRACTICAL  CLAIP.VOYANT. 


the  Irip  alono.  Tliis  is  not  clairvoyance,  tliouj^h  if  eonios 
jiroity  closo  to  it,  and  a  successful  cxpciimcnt  of  tliis 
may  eventually  lead  to  it. 

Ill  C'  nc!usion,  wc  wo;ild  remnrk  that  you  arc  now  in  pos- 
scss'on  <  f  about  all  the  facts  concernini!;-  pr;iciical  Mes- 
merism, and  if  you  wi  1  labor  to  extend  your  knowledge 
it,  will  greaily  lariKtate  3'our  investigations.  A  couple  <  f 
dozt'ii  copies  of  this  lit.le  work  ci  culated  in  your  neigh- 
borhood, amongst  ti  e  old  and  young,  male  and  fein;.lc, 
will  not  on'y  be  beneficial  to  those  who  re, id,  but  will 
create  an  jii)preciative  public  sentiment  which  will  be  of 
great  a'lvant.ige  to  sincere  investigators. 

On  t'le  o  hi  r  liand,  should  yaii  keep  this  book  under  lock 
and  ke}'',  or  loan  it  sleahliily  to  a  favon  d  few,  yon  will 
cre;ite  a  leel  ng  of  fi  ar  ai.d  distrust  tliat  may  be  disastrous 
ta  yours  If  as  weil  ;is  to  others.  The  very  best  thing  3'ou 
can  do,  if  3'o'i  wish  to  experiment  any,  is  to  influence  your 
friends  to  purchase  a  c  )py  of  tliis  work  and  study  it  thor- 
oughly; in  tiie  me.jntime  post  yourself.  In  regard  to  those 
who  will  oppose  3^ou,  for  you  will  meet  wiiii  bitter  oppo- 
nenls,  wc  would  advise  you  to  state  the  facts,  show  the 
phenomena,  and,  let  ihem  say  wliat  they  please,  "Truth 

WILL  PR K VAIL." 

Sht.uhl  you  wi  h  to  extend  your  knowledge  of  mesmer- 
ism, cspeci.illy  wiih  rega  d  to  'he  th<'ory,  we  would  rec«im- 
mend  ''Klecirieal  rsvchohigy,"  by  John  I)ovee  Dod  ;  and 
"  Siat  wolism,  or  Artdici  .l  Somnambulism,"  by  William  13. 
Fiihnestock.  Thcs  j  two  W'>rks  a  e  dir.  ct^y  oi)posi  e  in 
theory,  l<ut  boih  are  indispensable,  and  may  be  liad  (  f  the 
pubii  liers  of  ihis  book,  at  $1.50  eaeh.  Th  re  arc  ot'ier 
useful  bouks  in  c  rculation,  some  of  them  liigli-priced,  but 
these  two  cnibracj  all  th  .tan  oidina-y  inquirer  will  be 
likely  to  desire  in  the  way  of  theory  jmd  scien'ilic  expla- 
nations. Neither  of  the  works  Jire  spiritnali-t  c  or  mate- 
rialistic in  their  teachings,  :tnd  are  entirely  safe  so  far  as 
their  mor.il  tenden<  y  is  cncerned. 

And  now,  friend  y  ica  lers,  hoping  you  will  strengthen 
your  powers  by  a  riglit  UoC  of  ihem,  wo  bid  yuu  udieu. 


181 

MADAM  LENOEMAND'S 

Fortune-Teller  and  Dream-Book. 


FORTUNE-TELLING  TABLETS, 

AS  USED  BY  THE  EGYPTIAN   MAGI,  OK  ASTE0L0GEE3. — A  METHOD 
OF  TELLING-  FORTUNES  SUPERIOR  TO  ALL  OTHERS. 

EULE.— The  person  whose  fortune  is  to  be  told  is  to  prick  with 
a  pin,  or  other  sharp  point,  on  any  letter  they  choose  i.i  the  lirst 
Tablet,  but  by  chance  (with  the  eyes  shut)  ii  the  best  way  to  do  it ; 
then  refer  to  the  second  Tablet,  to  the  letter,  under  which  is  a  par- 
ticular magical  figure,  and  has  reference  to  the  Oracle  in  the  two 
following  pages,  and  which  will  determine  the  fortune  of  the  inquii*er. 


Tablet  No.  1. 

A   C  D 

Z   F   X   L   N  A 

P   N   0   C   D   L  Q 

YRSTEHGL 

KVWTSVANM 

CDPORBWXACH 

BIXFGSBHLK 

WVUOFTSVD 

L   M   X   Z   A   B  W 

B   B   L   ]\I   0  N 

Q   S  Y 

Tablet  Xo.  2. 
ABC 
25      15  5 
D      E      F       G      H  I 
U      IG      G      13      7  18 
K      L      M      N      O      P  Q 
8      17       1       9      10      22  3 
R       S      T      V      U  W 
12      23     19      2      21  4 
X      Y  Z 
20     21  11 


FOETUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK, 

ORACLE  TO  THE  TABLETS. 

GOOD  FORTUNE. 

1.  If  this  number  is  fixed  upon  by  a  man,  it  assures  him,  if  single, 
a  homely  wife,  but  rich  ;  if  married,  an  access  of  riches,  numerous 
children,  and  good  old  age.  To  a  lady,  the  faithfulness  of  her  lover, 
and  a  speedy  marriage 

3.  Very  good  fortune,  sudden  prosperity,  great  respect  from  high 
personages,  and  a  letter  bringing  important  news. 

7.  This  number,  to  a  woman,  is  wonderful  in  showing,  if  single, 
a  handsome,  rich,  and  constant  husband ;  and  if  married,  a  faith- 
ful partner,  and  who  must  be  of  a  good  family,  as  she  must  know 
she  has  married  above  her  condition.    To  a  man,  the  same. 

8.  This  is  a  general  good  sign,  and  your  present  expectations  will 
be  fulfilled,  and  you  have  some  on  the  anvil. 

9.  If  a  married  man  or  woman  draws  this,  if  under  fifty,  let  them 
not  despair  of  a  young  family.  To  the  single,  very  sudden  mar- 
riage. 

10.  A  friend  has  crossed  the  sea,  and  will  bring  home  some  riches, 
by  which  the  parties  will  be  much  benefited. 

12.  An  uncommon  number,  belonging  to  scriptural  signs,  and 
shows  the  party  will  have  success  in  all  their  undertaliings. 

15.  No  doubt  but  the  chooser  is  very  poor,  and  thought  insig- 
nificant ;  but  let  his  friends  assist  him  or  her,  as  they  are  much 
favored. 

16.  A  very  sudden  journey,  with  a  pleasant  fellow-traveler,  and 
the  result  of  the  journey  will  be  generally  beneficial  to  your  family. 

18.  A  sudden  acquaintance  witli  the  opposite  sex,  which  will  be 
opposed ;  but  the  party  should  persevere,  as  it  will  be  to  his  or 
her  advantage. 

21.  A  letter  of  importance  will  an'ive,  announcing  the  death  of 
a  relation  for  whom  you  have  no  very  great  rs^*pect,  but  who  has 
left  you  a  legacy. 

22.  Be  very  prudent  in  your  conduct,  as  this  number  is  very  pre- 
carious, and  much  depends  on  yourself ;  it  is  generally  good. 

BAD  FORTUNE. 

2.  Shows  the  loss  of  a  friend,  bad  success  at  law,  loss  of  money, 
imfaithfulness  of  lovers,  and  a  bad  partner. 

4.  A  letter  announcing  the  loss  of  money. 

5.  The  man  who  draws  this  number,  let  him  examine  his  mol(?s, 
and  he  will  find,  I  linow,  more  about  liim  than  he  imagines. 

6.  Very  bad  success ;  you  may  expect  generally  not  to  succeed 
in  any  of  your  undertaliings. 

11.  I  should  rather  suspect  the  fidelity  of  your  husband  or  wife, 
it  married ;  if  single,  you  are  shockingly  deceivecL 


FOBTUNE-TELLER  AITO  DREAM-BOOK. 


189 


13.  "You  want  to  borrow  money,  and  you  hope  you  will  have  it ; 
but  j^ou  will  be  deceived. 

14.  The  old  man  you  have  depended  upon  is  going  to  be  married, 
and  will  have  a  child. 

17.  You  have  mixed  with  this  company,  and  pretend  to  despise 
our  tablets,  but  you  rely  much  upon  them,  and  you  may  depend  on 
it  that  you  will  be  brought  to  disgrace. 

19.  Look  well  to  those  who  owe  you  money,  if  ever  so  little ;  a 
letter  of  abuse  may  be  expected. 

20.  A  drunken  partner,  and  1  ad  success  in  trade ;  the  party  will 
never  be  very  poor,  but  always  unh  ippy. 

25.  The  man  or  woman  who  chooses  this  unlucky  number,  let 
them  look  well  to  their  conduct;  justice,  though  slow,  is  sure  to 
overtake  the  wicked. 

PALMISTEY; 

OR,  TELLINQ  FORTXJNES  BY  THE  LINES  ON  THE  HAND. 

The  palms  of  the  hands  contain  a  great  variety  of  lines  running 
in  different  directions,  every  one  of  which  bears  a  certain  relation 
to  the  events  of  a  person's  life;  and  from  them,  witli  the  most 
infallible  certainty,  can  be  told  every  circumstance  that  will  happen 
to  any  one,  by  observing  them  properly.  It  is  therefore  recom- 
mended to  pay  strict  attention  to  this  subject,  as  by  that  means 
you  will  undoubtedly  gain  very  excellent  knowledge  for  your 
pains. 

And  first  is  given  the  names  of  the  several  lines  as  they  hold 
iheir  places,  and  then  particularize  their  qualities. 
There  are  five  principal  lines  i;i  the  hand,  viz :  • 
The  Line  of  Life. 
The  Line  of  Death. 
The  Table  Line. 
The  Girdle  of  Venus. 
The  Line  of  Fortune. 
And  besides  these  arc  other  Lines,  as  the  Line  of  Saturn,  the 
liver  Line,  and  some  others,  but  these  only  serve  to  explain  the 
principal  Lines. 

The  chief  Line  on  which  persons  of  the  profession  lay  the  greatest 
stress,  is  the  Line  of  Life,  which  generally  takes  its  rise  where  the 
thumb-joint  plays  with  the  wrist  on  the  inside ;  and  runs  in  an 
oblique  direction  to  the  inside  of  the  innermost  joint  of  the  fore 
finger. 

The  nex\;  is  the  Line  of  Death,  which  separates  the  fleshy  part 
of  the  hand  on  the  little  finger  side,  from  the  hollow  of  the  hand, 
running  in  \arious  directions  in  different  people. 

The  Table  Line  originates  with  the  Line  of  Life  at  the  wrist,  and 
runs  through  the  hollow  of  the  hand  towards  the  middle  finger. 


FOETUNE-TELLEB  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


The  Girdle  of  Venus  takes  its  course  from  the  extremity  of  th© 
lowermost  joint  of  the  litllo  linger,  and,  forming  a  curve,  termi- 
nates between  the  fore  and  middle  fingers. 

The  Line  of  Fortune  strikes  from  behind  the  ball,  or  mount  of 
the  fore  linger,  across  the  palm  and  Line  of  Life,  and  loses  itself 
in  or  near  the  fleshy  part  of  the  hand,  cn  the  little  finger  side. 

If  the  Line  of  Life  ii  crossed  by  other  lines  at  or  near  the  wrist, 
the  person  will  meet  with  sickness  in  the  beginning  of  life,  and 
the  degree  ot  sickness  will  be  proportioned  to  the  size,  length,  and 
breadth  of  the  intervening  lines.  If  the  Line  of  Life  runs  fair 
and  uninterrupted,  the  person  will  enjoy  good  health  ;  and  accord- 
ing to  its  length  towards  the  outside  of  the  fore  finger,  you  may 
judge  if  the  person  will  live  long,  as  the  longer  the  line  the  longer 
the  life. 

If  the  Line  of  Death  is  short,  and  runs  even,  without  being 
broken  or  divided,  it  shows  that  the  person  will  enjoy  a  good 
length  of  days,  and  not  be  subject  lo  many  maladies;  but  if  it  is 
interrupted,  it  evidently  shows  that  the  person's  life  will  be  en- 
dangered by  illne^ss.  If  this  line  ends  abrablly,  and  with  a  broad 
point,  it  shows  that  the  person  will  die  suddenly ;  i£  it  goes  olf  in 
a  tapering  point,  the  last  illness  will  be  slow,  and  consuming  by 
degrees.  If  other  lines  run  across  it,  the  person  will  be  of  a 
weakly  and  infirm  habit  of  body,  often  incapable  of  following  any 
hard  or  laborious  business. 

The  line  of  Fortune,  by  its  approach  to  the  Girdle  of  Venus, 
shows  that  there  ii  a  strong  kindred  between  them,  and  their  dis- 
tance, at  their  two  extremities,  clearly  jioints  out  that  love  is  in- 
consistent with  childhood  and  eld  age;  yet  i:i  those  where  the 
cros>  lines  approach  from  the  one  \j  the  other  i:ear  their  ends, 
1  rove  that  the  persons  were,  or  v.  ill  l;e  susceptible  ci  iDve  i.i  child/- 
1  ooJ  or  old  age.  For  example,  it  the  cross  lines  are  at  the  be- 
,t  inni  ig  of  the  Girdle  ot  Venu^,  ami  bear  towards  the  tail  of  the 
Line  of  Fortune,  it  evidently  iadicutcs  that  the  perrjon  was  sus- 
ceptible of  love  at  an  earlier  period  tlian  U3ual;  it  these  lines  of 
communication  are  crossed  by  other  small  lines,  the  person  has 
been  disappointed  i  i  his  wishes,  cr  f  everely  punished  for  r,ratify- 
ing  them  ;  if  plain  and  straight,  that  ]ie  has  been  successful ;  if  the 
lines  take  their  rise  from  the  tail  cl:  the  Girdle,  and  lead  towards 
the  head  of  the  Line  of  Fortune,  tlie  i)er5on  will  be  amorous  in  his 
old  age,  and,  according  to  the  situation  cf  the  transverse  lines, 
will  be  successful  or  unfortunate  i.i  his  amours;  if  the  Line  of 
Fortune  runs  smooth,  broad,  and  clear,  the  person  will  enjoy 
afilaence  through  life,  and  be  prosperous  in  all  his  undertakings ; 
if  it  is  intersected  by  short  lines  at  the  beginning,  near  the  fore 
finger,  it  denotes  that  the  person  was  poor,  or  at  least  with  a 
small  capital;  if  these  lines  occur  towards  the  middle,  at  either 
end,  he  will  be  prosperous  in  the  first  and  last  of  life,  but  meet 


FORTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


185 


with  disappointments  at  raid-age ;  if  the  cross  lines  occur  at  the 
extremity,  and  not  before,  lie  will  die  poor  and  distressed.  If 
transverse  lines,  crossed  by  others,  pass  from  the  Line  of  Life  to 
the  Line  o£  Fortune,  the  person  vv'ill  be  engaged  in  quarrels  and 
broils,  or  lawsuits  and  disunion  with  his  neighbors. 

If  the  hollow  palm  of  the  hand,  which  some  call  the  Plain  of 
Mars,  is  full  of  cross  lines,  running  into  each  other,  the  person 
will  bo  of  a  humorsome,  uneven,  and  testy  temper,  jealous  and 
hasty,  quarrelsome  and  lighting,  and  endeavoring  to  set  others  by 
the  ears;  he  will  meet  with  very  frequent  misfortunes,  and  bear 
them  very  uneasily ;  whereas,  if  the  hollow  or  palm  of  the  hand 
has  none  but  the  unavoidable  lines,  that  is  to  say,  those  that  must 
unavoidably  pass  through  it,  he  will  bo  of  a  sweet  and  amiable  dis- 
position, full  of  sensibility,  gratitude,  and  love,  faithful  benevo- 
lent, and  kind ;  and,  though  subject  to  crosses,  losses,  and  disap- 
pointments, will  bear  them  with  a:i  oven  and  agreeable  temper ; 
from  this  part  chielly  it  is  recommended  to  persons  to  choose  their 
companions  for  life,  cither  for  friendship  or  marriage. 

The  mount  or  ]jall  oi  the  thumb  bears  a  peculiar  analogy  to  the 
events  of  a  person's  liic,  with  respect  to  disputes,  quarrels,  and 
lawsuits ;  if  tliis  moimt  has  m.any  long,  stniight  lines,  reaching 
from  the  thumb  to  the  Lino  of  Life,  they  show  that  the  i)erson  will 
have  several  personal  encounters,  either  with  hands,  clubs,  pistols, 
or  swords ;  but  if  the  lines  are  curved  or  crooked,  they  indicate 
lawsuits,  and,  according  to  the  degree  of  crookedness,  they  will 
be  long  or  short ;  but  if  these  lines  end  in  n,  straight  direction  to- 
wards the  Line  of  Life,  they  will  end  prosperously ;  if  otherwise, 
they  will  be  attended  with  an  unfavorable  issue. 

MOLES. 

FIFTY-TWO  GREEK  OBSERVATIONS  ON  THESE  SPOTS  OF  DESTINY. 

The  Greeks  attach  much  importance  to  Moles,  but  i;i  a  different 
mode  to  the  old  English  track,  as  to  the  limbs,  features,  etc.  To 
those  born  in  the  first  week  of  tlie  year,  reckoning  from  the  first 
of  January  to  the  seventh,  they  pronounce  all  moles  above  llie 
shoulders  to  be  fortunate  indicators, — the  more  in  number  the 
better ;  and  all  leneath,  the  reverse  to  those  born  in  the  course  of 
the  second  week.  Moles  of  any  sort  arc  ominous  of  evil  in  the 
early  part  of  life.  Fourth  week — So  many  important  turns  of  fate 
as  there  are  spots.  Fifth  week — So  many  lovers.  Sixth  week — 
So  many  important  journeys.  Seventh  week — Moles  on  the  arms 
indicate  prosperity.  Eightii  week — So  many  perils.  Ninth  week 
— So  many  intrigues.  Tenth  week — So  many  legacies.  Eleventh 
week — So  many  children.  Twelfth  week — So  many  opportunities 
of  good.  Thirteenth  week — Same  as  the  first.  Fourteenth  week 
— So  many  voyages  to  sea.    Fifteenth  week— So  many  journeys  by 


FORTTNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


land.  Sixteenth  week — So  many  amours.  Seventeenth  week — 
The  more  moles  on  the  body,  the  more  mixture  of  fortune ;  one 
mole,  and  no  more,  great  prosperity.  Eighteenth  week — A  mole 
on  the  neck  shows  dangerous  elevation.  Nineteenth  week — So 
many  dangers.  Twentieth  week — Of  no  import  at  all,  except  on 
the  face,  then  it  betokens  advancement  through  love.  Twentieth 
week— Of  no  import  at  all,  save  on  the  legs,  when  they  denote 
traveling.  Twenty-first  week — A  great  genius.  Tsventy-second 
week— Controversies.  Twenty-third  week — Failures  in  several 
undertakings.  Twenty-fourth  week — Suits  at  law.  Twenty-fifth 
week  —  Many  friends.  Twenty-sixth  week  —  Many  enemies. 
Twenty-seventh  week — Many  moles,  happiness  Twenty-eighth 
week — The  more  moles  the  more  miser3\  Twenty-ninth  week — A 
mind  full  of  stratagems.  Thirtieth  week  —  So  many  battles. 
Thirty-first  v;eek — Exertions  in  vain.  Thirty-second  week — Pru- 
dence. Thirty-thir.l  week — Avarice.  Thirty-fourth  week — Lust. 
Thirty-fifth  week — Caprice.  Thirty -seventh  week  —  Deeds  that 
will  require  penitence  to  obliterate.  Thirty-eighth  week — Flattery 
Is  your  weakest  point.  Thirty-ninth  week — Prone  to  anger.  For- 
tieth week — So  many  children.  Forty-first  week — Three  moles, 
good  indicators,  a  greater  number  the  reverse.  Forty-second  week 
— Fortunate  escapes.  Forty-third  week — Arrests  that  will  concern 
you.  Forty-fourth  week — Lucky  speculations.  Forty-fifth  week — 
Reasons  for  rejoicing.  Forty-sixth  week — Intemperance — Forty- 
Beventh  week  —  Gluttony.  Forty-eighth  week  —  Bright  genius. 
Forty-ninth  week— Legal  disputes.  Fiftieth  week — A  divorce. 
Fifty-first  week — Sufferings  by  theft.  Fifty-second  week — A  ram- 
bling life. 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  the  above  predictions  are  stronger  or 
weaker  according  to  the  mumber  of  moles. 

The  B'rlh  of  Chil'lren,  and  Other  Eventa,  tciih  Bespecl  to  ihe  Moon's 
Age  and  Daj  of  ihe  ^Veek. — To  bo  born  the  first  day  of  the  new  moon 
portends  tlieir  life  shall  be  pleasant,  with  an  increase  cf  riches. 

A  child  born  on  the  second  day  will  grow  apace,  and  be  inclined 
to  lust,  of  either  sex.  It  is  lucky  on  this  day  to  send  messages  of 
trade,  buy  land,  and  sow  seed. 

A  child  bora  on  the  third  day  will  be  short-lived.  Never  begin 
any  work  of  moment  on  this  day.  Thefts  committed  on  this  day 
will  soon  be  discovered. 

The  fourth  day  is  bad.  Persons  falling  sick  on  this  day  rarely 
recover,  and  the  dreams  will  have  no  effect. 

The  fifth  day  is  favorable  to  begin  a  good  work,  and  the  dreams 
will  be  tolerably  successful ;  the  child  bom  on  that  day  will  bo 
deceitful  and  proud. 

The  sixth  day,  the  dreams  will  not  immediately  como  to  paaa; 
and  the  child  born  will  not  live  long. 


FORTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


187 


The  seventh.  Do  not  tell  your  dreams  on  this  day,  for  much 
depends  on  concealing  them  ;  if  sickness  befalls  you  on  this  day, 
you  will  soon  recover ;  the  child  born  will  live  long,  but  have  many 
troubles. 

The  eighth  day,  the  dreams  will  come  to  pass,  and  it  is  a  very 
prosperous  dn,y. 

The  ninth  day  differs  very  little  from  the  former;  the  child  born 
this  day  will  arrive  at  great  riches  and  honor. 

The  tenth  day  is  likely  to  be  fatal ;  those  who  fall  sick  will  rarely 
recover ;  but  the  child  born  on  this  day  will  live  long,  and  be  a 
great  traveler. 

The  eleventh  is  a  good  day  to  be  married,  or  commence  a  jour- 
ney. A  child  born  at  this  age  of  the  moon  will  be  healthy,  hand- 
some, and  of  a  good  constitution,  with  a  particular  mole  on  his 
lorehead.    If  a  female,  will  be  remarkable  for  wisdom. 

On  the  twelfth  day,  the  child  born  will  meet  every  affection,  but 
be  of  a  bad  temper.  This  is  a  very  unlucky  day,  particularly  to 
those  falling  sick. 

A  child  born  on  the  thirteenth  day  will  be  unfortunate  both  in 
temper  and  estate ;  though  a  good  day  for  marriages,  or  to  find 
things  which  have  been  lost.  Persons  imprisoned  this  day  will 
soon  have  their  liberty. 

A  child  whoso  nativity  is  on  the  fourteenth  day,  will  die  as  a 
traitor.  An  excellent  day  to  ask  a  favor.  Take  physic  on  this 
day. 

The  fifteenth  day  is  very  unfortunate.  A  good  day  to  find  any- 
thing that  is  lost. 

The  child  born  on  the  sixteenth  day  will  bo  unmannerly  and  un- 
fortunate. Buy  and  sell  on  this  day.  Dreams  portend  luck  on  this 
day, 

The  seventeenth  of  the  moon,  a  child  to  be  born  on,  shows  it 
will  be  foolish.  You  may  take  physic,  let  blood,  or  contract  busi- 
ness on  this  day. 

The  eighteenth  day  is  fortunate,  both  for  male  and  female,  bom 
on  it. 

A  nativity  on  the  nineteenth  day,  the  child  will  be  wise  ana  urtu- 
OU3,  and  will  arrive  at  great  honors. 

Your  dreams  portend  good  on  the  twentieth  day  of  the  moon ; 
though  a  child  born  on  that  day  will  be  dishonest. 

A  child  born  the  twenty-first  day  will  be  of  so  unhappy  a  dispo- 
sition, that,  let  him  look  to  the  sword  of  justice,  perhaps  "black 
with  murder,  sacrilege,  and  crimes."  An  unhappy  fatality  attends 
this  day. 

On  the  twenty-second  day,  the  child  that  is  born  will  purchase 
a  good  estate ;  he  will  be  handsome,  religious,  and  well  beloved. 
This  is  a  good  day  to  remove  bees. 

On  the  twenty-third  day,  the  child  that  is  born  will  be  of  an 


188 


FOBTTJNE-TELLER  AND  DBEAM-BOOK. 


ungoveniablo  temper,  a  groat  traveler,  but  will  die  miserable. 
Good  day  to  be  married,  or  commence  business. 

On  the  twenty-fourth  day,  the  child  born  will  achieve  many  he- 
roic actions,  and  will  be  much  admired  for  them. 

Thj  c'lild  born  on  the  twenty-flfth  day  will  be  very  wicked,  and 
meet  wdth  many  dangerj.  It  is  a  very  unfortunate  day,  and 
threatens  vexation. 

On  the  twenty-sixth  day,  the  child  bc:n  shall  be  very  amiable; 
if  a  male,  will  meet  but  an  indifferent  state  in  the  world ;  if  a 
female,  she  will  bo  married  to  a  rich  man  for  her  beauty. 

On  the  twenty-seventh  day,  a  child  born  on  this  day  will  have 
every  engaging  quality,  but  will  not  rise  to  any  great  preferment. 
This  i  j  a  ver /  lucky  day. 

On  the  twenty-eighth  day,  the  child  that  is  born  shall  be  the  de- 
light of  his  i^arents,  but  have  much  sickness. 

To  Know  Whe'her  Your  Love  of  a  Person  loill  be  Mutual. — Take  tho 
number  of  tho  first  letter  o[  your  name,  the  number  of  tho  planet, 
and  day  of  tho  week,  put  all  these  together,  and  divide  them  by 
30  ;  if  it  be  above,  it  will  come  to  j-our  mind,  and  if  below,  to  the 
contrary ;  and  mind  that  number  which  exceeds  not  30. 

CHAEMS.  SPELLS,  AND  INCANTATIONS. 

TO  BE  USED  ON  PARTICULArv  EVE3  O?  FASTS  AND  FESTIVALS,  TO 
PE0CUK3  DUEAMS,  TOKENS,  AND  OTHEPv  INSIGHTS  INTO  FUTURITY. 

FjLit  of  S'.  Anne's. — This  is  a  hard  trial,  but  what  is  not  possible 
to  any  young  Ixdy  who  wishes  to  know  her  lot  in  marriage  ? — that 
most  important  change  in  human  life. 

Prepirj  yourself  threo  days  previous  to  the  eve  of  this  female 
saint,  by  living  on  bread  and  water  and  sprigs  of  parsley,  and  touch 
no  other  thing  whatever,  or  your  labor  will  be  lost ;  the  eve  begins 
at  the  sixth  hour.  Go  to  bed  as  soon  as  you  conveniently  can,  and 
speak  not  a  word  after  you  once  begin  to  undress ;  get  into  bed,  lay 
on  your  left  side  with  your  head  as  low  as  possible,  then  repeat  the 
following  verse  three  times  : 

St.  Anne,  in  silver  clouds  descend. 

Prove  thyself  a  female's  friend ; 

Be  it  good  or  be  it  harm, 

Let  me  have  knowledge  from  the  charm; 

Be  it  husbands  one,  two,  three, 

Let  me  in  rotation  see ; 

And  if  Fate  decrees  me  four. 

(No  good  maid  could  wish  for  more), 

Let  me  view  them  in  my  dream, 

Fair  and  clearly  to  be  seen ; 


rOBTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


189 


But  if  the  stars  decree 
Perpetual  virginity, 
Let  mc  sleep  on,  and  dreaming  not, 
I  shall  know  my  single  lot. 

Magic  Bose. — Gather  your  rose  on  the  27th  of  J une ;  let  it  be  full 
blown,  and  as  bright  a  red  as  you.  can  get ;  pluck  it  between  the 
hours  of  three  and  four  in  the  morning,  taking  cu,rc  to  have  no  wit- 
ness of  the  transaction ;  convey  it  to  you  •  chamber,  and  hold  it 
over  a  chaffing  dish  or  any  convenient  utensil  for  the  purpose,  in 
which  there  is  charcoal  and  sulphur  of  brimstone  ;  hold  your  rose 
over  the  smoke  about  live  minutes,  and  yon  will  see  it  have  a  won- 
derful effect  on  the  flower.  Before  the  rose  gets  the  least  cool, 
clap  it  in  a  sheet  of  writing-paper,  on  which  is  written  your  own 
name  and  that  of  the  young  man  you  love  best;  also  the  date  of 
the  year,  and  the  name  of  the  morning  star  that  has  the  ascend- 
ency at  that  time ;  fold  it  up  and  seal  it  neatly  with  three  separate 
seals,  then  run  and  bury  the  parcel  at  the  foot  of  the  tree  from 
which  you  gathered  the  flower;  liere  let  it  remain  untouched  till 
the  Gth  of  July ;  take  it  up  at  midnight,  go  to  bed  and  place  it  under 
your  pillow,  and  you  will  have  a  singular  and  most  eventful  dream 
before  morning ;  or,  at  least  before  your  usual  time  of  rising.  You 
may  keep  the  rose  under  3-our  head  three  nights  without  spoiling 
the  charm  ;  when  you  have  done  with  the  rose  and  paper  be  sure 
to  burn  them. 

Cupid's  Nosegay. — On  the  first  niqrht  of  the  new  moon  in  July, 
take  a  red  rose,  a  white  rose,  a  yellow  flower,  a  blue  one,  a  sprig 
of  rue  and  rosemary,  and  nine  blades  of  long  grass ;  bind  all  to- 
gether with  a  lock  of  your  own  hair  ;  kill  a  white  pigeon,  sprinkle 
the  nosegay  with  the  blood  from  the  heart,  and  some  common  salt ; 
wrap  the  flowers  in  a  white  handkerchief,  and  lay  it  under  your 
head,  on  the  pillow,  when  you  go  to  rest;  and,  before  morning, 
you  will  see  j-our  fate  as  clear  as  if  you  had  your  nativity  cast  by 
the  best  Astrologer  in  the  world  ;  not  only  in  respect  to  love,  lovers, 
or  marriage,  but  in  the  other  most  important  affairs  of  your  life ; 
storms,  in  this  dream,  foretell  great  trouble ;  and  graves  or  church- 
yards are  fatal  tokens,  and  so  is  climbing  steep  and  dangerous 
places. 

Love's  Cordial. —  To  be  Tried  the  Third  Night  of  a  New  Moon. — Take 
brandy,  rum,  gin,  wine,  and  the  oil  of  amber,  of  each  a  teaspoon- 
ful ;  a  tablespoonful  of  cream,  and  three  of  spring  water ;  drink  it 
as  you  get  into  bed  ;  rei)eat — 

This  mixture  of  love  I  take  for  my  potion, 
That  I  of  my  destiny  may  have  a  notion ; 
Cupid  befriend  me,  new  moon  bo  kind. 
And  show  unto  me  the  fate  that's  design'd. 


FORTUNB-TELLEE  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


You  will  dream  of  drink,  and,  according  to  the  quality  or  manner 
of  it  being  presented,  you  may  tell  the  condition  to  which  you  will 
rise  or  fall  by  marriage.  Water  is  poverty ;  and,  if  you  dream  of 
a  drunken  man,  it  is  ominous  that  you  will  have  a  drunken  mate. 
If  you  dream  of  drinking  too  much,  3-ou  will  fall,  at  a  future 
period,  into  that  sad  error  yourself,  without  great  care  ;  and  what 
is  a  worse  sight  than  an  inebriated  female  ?  She  can  not  guard 
her  own  honor,  ruitis  her  own  and  family's  substance,  and  often 
clothes  herself  with  rags.  Trouble  is  often  used  as  an  excuse  for 
this  vicious  habit,  but  it  gives  more  troujle  than  it  takes  away. 

The  Xine  Jic^s.— Got  nine  small  keys ;  they  must  all  bo  your  own 
by  begging  or  purchase  (borrowing  will  not  do,  nor  must  you  tell 
what  you  want  them  for) ;  plait  a  three-plaited  band  of  your  own 
hair,  and  tie  them  together,  fastening  the  ends  with  nine  knots, 
fasten  them  with  one  of  your  garters  to  your  left  wrist  on  going  to 
bed,  and  bind  the  other  garter  round  your  head ;  then  say — 

St.  Peter,  take  it  not  amiss. 

To  try  your  favor  I've  done  this ; 

You  arc  the  ruler  of  the  keys, 

Favor  me,  then,  if  you  please; 

Let  me  then  your  influence  prove, 

And  see  my  dear  and  wedded  love. 
This  must  be  done  on  the  eve  of  St.  Peter's,  and  is  an  old  charm 
used  by  the  maidens  of  Rome  in  ancient  times,  who  put  great  faith 
in  it. 

The  Ring  and  O'.ive-hranch. — Buy  a  ring,  it  matters  not  it  being 
gold,  80  as  it  has  the  semblance  of  a  wedding-ring,  and  it  is  best 
to  try  this  charm  on  your  own  birthday.  Pay  for  your  ring  with 
some  small  bill ;  for,  whatever  change  you  receive,  you  must  f.ive 
to  the  lirst  begger  you  meet  in  the  street ;  and  if  no  one  asks  alms 
of  you,  give  it  to  some  poor  person  ;  for  you  need  not,  alas  !  go  far 
before  you  find  one  to  whom  your  charity  will  be  acceptable  ;  care- 
fully note  what  they  say  in  return,  such  as  "God  bless  you,"  or 
wishing  you  luck  and  prosperity,  as  is  usual.  When  you  get  home, 
write  it  down  on  a  sheet  of  paper,  at  each  of  four  corners ;  and,  in 
the  middle,  put  the  two  first  letters  of  your  name,  your  age,  and 
the  letters  of  the  planets  then  reigning  as  morning  and  evening 
stars  ;  get  a  branch  of  olive  and  fasten  the  ring  on  the  stalk  with 
a  string  or  thread,  which  has  been  steeped  all  day  in  a  mixture  of 
honey  and  vinegar,  or  any  composition  of  opposite  qualities,  very 
sweet  and  very  sour ;  cover  your  ring  and  stalk  with  the  written 
paper  carefully  wrapped  round  and  round  ;  wenr  it  in  your  bosom 
till  the  ninth  hour  of  the  night ;  then  repair  to  the  next  churchyard 
and  bury  the  charm  in  the  grave  of  a  young  man  who  died  unmar- 
ried ;  and  while  you  are  so  doing,  repeat  the  letters  of  your  own 


FOETUNE-TELLER  AND  DEEAM-BOOK. 


191 


CJhristian  name  three  times  backwards ;  return  liome,  and  keep  as 
silent  and  quiet  as  possible  till  you  go  to  bed,  which  must  be  before 
eleven  ;  put  a  light  in  your  chimney,  or  some  safe  place ;  and,  be- 
fore midnight,  or  just  about  that  time,  your  husband  that  is  to  bo 
will  present  himself  at  the  foot  of  the  bed,  but  will  presently  dis- 
appear. If  you  arc  not  to  marry,  none  vv  ill  come ;  and,  in  that 
case,  if  you  dream  before  morning  of  children,  it  shows  that  you 
will  have  them  unmarried ;  and  if  you  dream  of  crowds  of  men, 
beware  of  prostitution. 

The  Witches'  Chain. — Let  three  young  women  join  in  making  a 
long  chain,  about  a  yard  will  do,  of  Christmas,  juniper,  and  mistle- 
toe berries  ;  and  at  tlie  end  of  every  link  put  an  oak  acorn.  Exactly 
before  midnight  lot  them  assemble  in  a  room  by  themselves,  where 
no  one  can  disturb  them  ;  leave  a  window  open,  and  take  the  key 
out  of  the  keyhole  and  hand  it  over  the  chimney-piece ;  have  a  good 
fire,  and  place  in  the  midst  of  it  a  long  thinnish  log  of  wood,  well 
sprinkled  with  oil,  salt,  and  fresh  mould  ;  then  wrap  the  chain  round 
it,  each  maiden  having  an  equal  share  in  the  business ;  then  sit 
down,  and  on  your  left  knee  let  each  fair  one  have  a  prayer-book 
opened  at  the  matrimonial  service.  Just  as  the  last  acorn  is  burned, 
the  future  husband  will  cross  the  room  ;  each  one  will  see  her  own 
proper  spouse,  but  he  will  bo  invisible  to  the  rest  of  the  wakeful 
virgins.  Those  that  are  not  to  wed  will  see  a  coffin,  or  some  mis- 
shapen form,  cross  the  room  ;  go  to  bed  instantly  and  you  will  all 
have  remarkable  dreams.  This  must  bo  done  either  on  a  Wednes- 
day or  Friday  night,  but  no  other. 

Love-ktUrs. — On  receiving  a  love-letter  that  has  any  particular 
declaration  in  it,  lay  it  wide  open ;  then  fold  it  in  nine  folds,  pin 
it  next  your  heart,  and  thus  wear  it  till  bed-time ;  then  place  it  in 
your  left-hand  glove,  and  lay  it  under  your  head.  If  you  dream  of 
gold,  diamonds,  or  any  costly  gems,  your  lover  is  true,  and  means 
what  he  says  ;  if  of  white  linen,  you  will  lose  him  by  death  ;  and 
if  of  flowers,  he  will  prove  false.  If  you  dream  of  his  saluting 
you,  he  is  at  present  false  and  means  not  what  he  professes,  but 
only  to  draw  you  into  a  snare. 

Strange  Bed. — On  going  to  rest,  take  a  glass  of  water,  half  fill  It 
with  salt,  and  drink  it  off  as  quick  as  you  can  ;  do  not  speak  after- 
wards, but  compose  yourself  to  sleep,  and  thirst  will  cause  you 
to  dream ;  which  joined  to  a  strange  bed,  will  have  a  true  effect. 

To  See  a  Future  Husbavd. — On  Midsummer-eve,  just  after  sunset, 
three,  five,  or  seven  young  women  are  to  go  into  a  garden,  in  which 
there  Id  no  other  person,  and  each  to  gather  a  sprig  of  red  sago,  and 
then,  going  into  a  room  by  themselves,  set  a  stool  in  the  middle  of 
tho  room,  and  on  it  a  clean  basin  full  of  rose-water,  in  which  the 


192 


FORTUNE-TELLEE  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


sprigs  of  sage  nro  to  bo  put,  and,  tying  a  line  across  the  room,  on 
one  side  of  the  stool,  each  woman  is  to  hang  on  it  a  clean  shift, 
turning  the  v.  ron;^  side  outwards  ;  then  all  are  to  sit  down  in  a  row, 
on  the  opposite  si  ic  of  the  stool,  as  far  distant  as  the  room  will 
admit,  not  speaking  a  single  word  the  vWiole  time,  whatever  they 
see,  and  in  a  few  minutes  after  twelve,  each  one's  future  liusband 
will  take  her  sprig  out  of  the  rose-water,  and  sprinkle  her  shift  with 
it. 

On  St.  Agnes'  night,  21st  January,  take  a  row  of  pins,  and  pull 
out  every  one,  one  after  another,  saying  a  paternoster  or  sticking 
a  pin  in  your  sleeve,  and  you  will  dream  of  him  you  will  marry. 

A  slice  of  the  bride-cake  thrice  drawn  through  the  weddincc-ring, 
and  laid  under  the  head  of  an  unmarried  woman,  will  make  her 
dream  of  her  future  husband.  The  same  is  practiced  in  some 
parts  of  Europe  with  a  piece  of  the  groaning  cheese. 

Another  way  to  see  a  future  spouse  in  a  dream :  The  party  in- 
quiring must  sleep  in  a  different  county  from  that  in  which  she 
usually  resides,  and,  on  going  to  bed,  must  knit  the  left  garter 
about  the  right-legged  stocking,  letting  the  other  garter  and 
stocking  alone ;  and  as  you  rehearse  the  following  verse,  at  every 
comma  tie  a  knot  • 

This  knot  I  knit,  to  know  the  thing  I  know  not  yet, 
That  I  may  see,  the  man  that  shall  my  husband  be, 
How  hc.goes,  and  what  he  wears, 
And  what  he  does  all  days  and  years. 

Accordingly,  in  a  dream  he  will  appear,  with  the  insignia  of  his 
trade  or  profession. 

Another,  perrormed  by  charming  the  moon,  thus :  At  the  first 
appearinco  cf  the  new  moon,  immediately  after  the  new  year's 
day,  go  out  i  i  the  evening,  and  stand  over  the  spears  of  a  gato 
or  stye,  and,  looking;  on  the  moon,  repeat  the  following  lines: 

All  hail  to  thee,  moon  !  all  hail  to  thee ! 
I  pr'ythce,  good  moon,  reveal  to  me 
Thio  night,  who  my  husband  must  be  ! 

The  person  will  then  dream  of  her  future  husband. 

To  K.ioio  lohat  Fortune  your  Fdiure  Husband  wi'l  Have. — Take  a  wal- 
nut, a  hazlcnut,  and  a  nutmeg ;  grate  them  together,  and  mix  them 
with  butter  and  Gu::ar,  and  make  them  up  into  small  pills,  of  which 
exactly  nine  must  be  taken  on  going  to  bed  ;  and  according  to  her 
dreams  so  v/ill  be  the  state  of  the  person  she  will  marry.  If  a 
gentleman,  of  riches;  if  a  clergyman,  of  white  linen;  if  a  lawyer, 
of  darknesi ;  if  a  tradesman,  of  odd  noises  and  tumults ;  if  a  sol- 
dier cr  sailer,  of  thunder  and  lightning ;  if  a  servant,  of  rain. 


FORTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


193 


The  Lover's  Charm. — To  be  tried  on  any  Wednesday  or  Friday, 
throughout  the  year,  Friday  in  Passion  AVeek  always  excepted,  as 
no  charm  or  spell  must  bo  tried.  It  is  an  offense  against  the  Greek 
churcli  (or  indeed  any  Christian  one)  and  always  proves  unfortur 
natc  to  a  person  so  doing ;  and  under  this  head  we  also  record  the 
fifty- two  Babbaths,  Ash  Wednesday,  and  the  eve  of  St.  Jude. 

The  Charm.— This  must  be  tried  alone,  and  with  profound 
secrecy,  between  the  hours  of  nine  and  twelve  at  night, — neither 
sooner  nor  later.  Take  a  v/hite  dove,  and  kill  it ;  take  out  the 
heart  and  liver,  and  roast  it  until  you  can  powder  it  on  a  piece  of 
white  paper ;  mix  one  teaspoonful  of  this  witii  a  drachm  of  dragon's 
blood,  put  them  in  half  a  gill  of  Cyprus  wine,  and  drink  it  on  going 
to  bed ;  previously  mix  the  blood  that  flows  from  the  bird  with 
wheaten  flower,  into  a  cake  of  the  form  of  a  heart,  prick  it  with  the 
first  letters  of  your  name,  and  the  form  of  a  Maltese  cross — 


Which  is  thus  designed ;  leave  the  cake  baking  over  the  fire,  as  it 
will  have  a  great  influence  in  your  dream. 

When  you  dream  any  particular  dream,  write  it  down  on  a  sheet 
of  paper,  round  and  round  i:i  a  circle,  so  that  the  last  word  comes 
into  the  middle,  and  place  it  under  your  pillow  on  going  to  bed, 
and  you  will  dream  more  fully  on  the  subject. 

Hymeneil  Charm. — The  night  before  your  nuptials,  write  your 
name  on  a  piece  of  paper,  as  small  as  possible,  the  name  of  your 
spouse  elect,  the  date  of  the  wedding-day,  the  month,  and  the  year ; 
inclose  all  in  a  circle  of  blood  drawn  from  one  of  your  fingers,  fold 
the  paper  i:ito  nine  folds,  place  it  in  the  stocking  drawn  from  your 
left  log,  and  place  it  between  your  head  and  the  pillow,  and  b}^  your 
dreams  of  that  night  you  may  guess  what  will  be  the  fate  attending 
your  nuptial  life. 

For  a  Girl  to  Ascertain  if  She  wi  l  Soon  Marry. — Find  a  green  pea- 
pod  with  exactly  nine  peas  in  it,  and  hang  it  over  the  door  of  a 
room  or  entry-way,  without  letting  any  person  know  that  you  have 
done  so  ;  you  must  then  watch  the  door  and  see  who  goes  through 
first ;  if  it  is  a  bachelor,  or  an  unmarried  young  man,  you  will  posi- 
tively be  married  before  the  current  crop  of  poas  is  disposed  of ;  if 
it  is  a  woman,  you  will  liave  to  sigh  in  single  1  lessedness  another 
year ;  if  a  married  man,  be  careful  and  not  allow  j^our  lover  too 
much  liberty  in  his  attentions,  or  tho  consec^uences  may  bo  re- 
gretted. 


FOETUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


PHYSIOGNOMY ; 

OB,  THE  AET  OP  DISCOVEKING  A  PEKSON'S  DISPOSITION  BY  THEIR 
FEATURES. 

That  the  form  of  the  features  display  the  disposition  of  the  soul, 
and  may  be  demonstrated  by  the  principles  of  philosophy,  is  ob- 
vious to  every  person  of  the  least  reflection.  It  is  impossible  for 
man  to  feel  any  passion,  without  the  countenance  sympathizing 
with  the  sensation,  so  as  exactly  to  express  the  internal  emotion. 
That  passion,  therefore,  which  is  predominant  in  the  human  char- 
acter, being  the  most  frequently  excited,  must,  by  repetition,  ex- 
press the  prevailing  disposition  on  the  countenance.  And  as  every 
person  has  a  temper  peculiar  to  himself,  that  temper  must  impress 
on  the  visage  such  signs  as  display,  to  a  discriminate  observer, 
the  particular  passion  or  temperament,  which  distinguishes  every 
human  being  from  the  rest  of  his  fellow  creatures. 

The  face  that  is  plump,  round,  and  ruddy,  denotes  the  person 
to  bo  of  an  agreeable  temper,  and  deserving  friendship,  as  well  as 
faithful  in  love ;  and  the  man,  though  sometimes  in  an  unguarded 
moment  may  be  led  astray,  yet  he  soon  returns,  and  proves  more 
affectionate  than  before. 

The  face  that  is  smooth  and  even,  with  well-proportioned  fea- 
tures, shows  the  person  to  be  of  a  good  disposition,  but  somewhat 
inclined  to  suspicion,  yet  of  an  agreeable  conversation,  and  strongly 
addicted  to  the  delights  of  love. 

A  face  whose  cheek-bones  stick  out,  with  thin  jaws,  is  of  a  rest- 
less disposition,  fretful,  and  always  foreboding  evil,  v^ithout  any 
plausible  reason ;  and  more  disposed  than  capable  of  enjoying  the 
Dleasures  of  love. 

If  the  forehead  is  large,  round,  and  smooth,  it  denotes  the  man 
or  woman  to  be  of  an  open,  generous  temper,  and  will  be  extremely 
good-natured ;  his  love  for  the  fair  one  whom  he  selects  will  be 
tender,  manly,  and  inviolable,  provided  her  own  misconduct  does 
not  banish  it  from  his  breast;  his  conversation  vfill  be  lively, 
modest,  and  pleasing ;  and  he  will  seldom  die  before  he  attains 
the  age  of  sixty,  or  upwards. 

If  the  forehead  is  flat  in  the  middle,  the  man  or  woman  will  be 
found  to  be  proud,  and  little  disposed  to  generosity ;  in  love  affairs 
the  man  will  be  violent,  and  very  cautious  of  his  own  reputation, 
as  well  as  that  of  his  mistress ;  he  Vv  ill  get  many  children,  v/hom 
he  will  not  suffer  to  degrade  themselves ;  but  if  they  should,  he 
will  beat  them  with  the  utmost  severity,  and  v/ill  not  be  easily 
prevailed  on  to  forgive  them. 

If  there  is  a  hollow  across  the  forehead,  in  the  middlo^  of  man  or 
woman,  with  a  ridge,  as  of  flesh,  above,  and  another  Ijelow,  the 
man  will  be  a  good  scholar,  and  the  woman  great  in  whatever  oc- 


rOETUNE-TELLEB  AND  DBEAM-BOOK. 


195 


CTipation  she  may  be  engaged  in ;  they  will  not  be  liberal  in  be- 
stowing, but  if  they  can  be  of  service  without  hurting  themselves, 
they  will  do  it  cheerfully ;  love  will  not  be  their  prevailing  passion, 
and  they  will  have  but  few  children,  and  those  at  very  distant 
periods — perhaps  three,  four,  sometimes  seven  yeirs,  between 
every  two  ;  they  will  meet  with  many  crosses,  but  will  bear  them 
with  a  tolerable  share  of  patience. 

If  the  forehead  projects  immediately  over  the  eyebrows,  running 
flat  up  to  the  hair,  the  man  or  woman  will  be  sulky,  proud,  inso- 
lent, imperious,  and  treacherous  ;  and  will  never  forgive  an  injury, 
but  will  take  every  opportunity  to  prejudice  the  person ;  will  have 
few  children,  and  in  quick  succession. 

If  a  crescent  or  half-moon  line  passeth  through  the  forehead, 
the  party  must  beware  of  evil. 

If  the  temples  are  hollow,  with  the  bones  advancing  towards  the 
forehead  on  either  side,  so  that  the  space  between  is  flat,  with  a 
small  channel  of  indenture  rising  from  the  upward  part  of  the  nose 
to  the  hair,  the  man  or  woman  will  bo  of  a  daring  temper,  and  a 
restless  and  wandering  disposition,  extremely  lewd,  and  never 
seriously  attend  to  one  object ;  in  understanding  will  be  rather 
weak,  and  will  trouble  themselves  but  little  about  the  conse- 
quences that  may  result  from  their  proceedings ;  they  will  seldom 
have  above  one  or  two  children,  and  will  not  live  to  an  advanced 
age. 

The  eye  that  is  large,  full,  prominent,  and  clear,  denotes  a  man 
or  woman  to  be  ingenuous  and  without  deceit ;  of  an  even,  agree- 
able disposition ;  modest  and  bashful  in  the  affairs  of  love;  will 
suffer  no  great  Iiardships,  nor  enjoy  any  great  share  of  happiness ; 
will  have  several  children,  but  more  girls  than  boys. 

The  eye  that  is  small,  but  advanced  in  the  head,  shows  the  man 
or  woman  fo  be  of  a  quick  wit,  lively  genius,  agreeable  conversa- 
tion, and  good  morals,  but  inclined  to  jealousy. 

The  man  or  woman  whose  eyes  are  sunk  in  the  head,  is  of  a 
jealous,  distrustful,  malicious,  and  envious  nature ;  he  will  have 
many  children,  whom  ho  will,  if  possible,  avoid  providing  for. 

Next,  the  nose  thp.t  is  even  on  the  ridge,  and  flat  on  the  sides, 
with  little  or  no  hollow  between  the  eyes,  declares  the  man  or 
woman  to  be  sulky,  disdainful,  and  treacherous. 

The  nose  that  rises  with  a  sudden  bulge,  a  little  below  the  eyes, 
is  petulant  and  noisy. 

The  nose  that  is  small,  slender,  and  peaked,  shows  the  person 
to  be  jealous,  fretful,  and  suspicious. 

The  nose  that  is  small,  tapering,  round  in  the  nostrils,  and 
cocked  up,  shows  the  person  to  be  ingenious,  smart,  of  a  quick 
apprehension,  but  giddy,  and  seldom  looking  into  consequences. 

The  lips  that  are  thick,  soft,  and  long,  bespeak  the  person  to  be 


196' 


FORTUNE-TELLEB  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


of  weak  intellect,  peevish,  and  is  strongly  addicted  to  the  pleasures 
of  love. 

If  the  under  lip  is  thicker  than  the  upper,  and  more  prominent, 
the  person  is  of  a  weak  understanding,  artful,  and  knavish. 

The  lips  that  are  moderately  plump  and  even,  declare  the  person 
to  be  good-humored,  humane,  sensible,  and  just. 

The  lips  that  are  thin,  show  the  person  to  be  of  a  quick  and 
lively  imagination,  and  eager  in  the  pleasures  of  love. 

The  lips  that  are  thin  and  sunk  in,  denote  the  person  to  be  sly 
and  revengeful,  and  in  love  or  friendship  moderate  and  uncertain. 

The  chin  that  is  round,  with  a  hollow  between  that  and  the  lip, 
shows  the  person  to  be  of  a  good  disposition,  kind,  and  honest; 
sincere  in  friendship,  and  ardent  in  love. 

The  chin  that  comes  dovrn  flat  from  the  edge  of  the  lip,  and  ends 
in  a  kind  of  chisel  form,  shows  the  person  to  be  silly,  credulous, 
jealous,  and  ill-tempered. 

Thus  is  shown,  according  to  the  most  learned  and  judicious 
ancient  authors,  all  that  can  really  be  gathered  from  that  index 
of  the  human  mind,  the  face,  and  all  its  parts. 

HOW  TO  TELL  A  PEESON'S  CHAEACTER, 

BY  MEANS  OF  CABAIilSTIC  CALCULATIOXS. 

This  is  said  to  have  been  the  invention  of  the  sage  Pythagorus, 
whose  doctrine  was  that  cver^-thing  in  the  universe  was  repre- 
sented and  governed  by  certain  figures  or  numbers,  to  which  he 
ascribed  mysterious  properties  and  virtues.  According  to  him, 
everything,  from  the  Supremo  Being  himself  down  to  the  minutest 
atom,  was  distinguished  by  its  own  proper  number ;  and  his  belief 
was  shared  by  numberless  other  philosophers.  Without  entering 
into  any  detail  of  this  system,  we  will  proceed  to  describe  how 
these  calculations  are  made.  An  alphabetical  table  must  be  first 
prepared  with  its  corresponding  numbers,  thus  : 


A 

B 

0  1  D 

E 

F 

G 

H 

I 

1 

2 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

K 

L 

M  \  N 

0 

P 

E 

S 

10 

20 

30  40 

50 

60 

70 

80 

90 

T 

U 

X  Y 

Z 

J 

V 

Hi 

Hu 

100 

200 

300  '  400 

500 

600 

700 

800 

900 

FORTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


197 


This  is  accomplished  by  a  list  of  numbers,  with  their  various 
Interpretations  and  significations,  as  follows  : 


1.  Passion,  ambition,  design. 

2.  Destruction,  death,  catas- 

trophe 

3.  Religion,  destiny,  the  soul, 

charms. 

4.  Solidity,  wisdom,  power. 

5.  The     stars,  happiness, 

graces,  marriage. 

6.  Perfection,  labor. 

7.  CkDursc  of  life,  repose,  lib- 

erty, perfect  happiness. 

8.  Justice,  preservation. 

9.  Imperfection,  diminution, 

grief,  pain,  expectation. 

10.  Success, reason,  future  hap- 

piness. 

11.  Faults,  punishment,  dis- 

cord, prevarication. 

12.  Good  omen,  a  town  or  city. 

13.  Impiety. 

14.  Sacrifice,  purification. 

15.  Piety,  self-culture. 

16.  Love,  happiness,  voluptu- 

ousness. 

17.  Misfortune,  forgetfulness. 

18.  Hardening  of  the  heart, 

misfortune. 

19.  Folly. 

20.  Austerity,  sadness. 

21.  Mystery,  wisdom,  the  crea- 

tion. 

22.  A  scourge,  the  divine  venge- 

ance. 

23.  Ignorance  of  the  doctrines 

of  Christianity. 
"24.  A  journey. 

25.  Intelligence,  a  birth. 

26.  L^seful  works. 

27.  Firmness,  courage. 

28.  Love  tokens. 

29.  Letters. 

30.  Fame,  a  wedding. 

31.  Love  of  glory,  virtue. 

32.  Marriage. 


33.  Purity. 

34.  Suffering  trouble  of  mind. 

35.  Health,  harmony. 

36.  Genius,  vast  conception. 

37.  Domestic  virtues,  conjugal 

love. 

38.  Imperfection,  avarice,  en- 

vy. 

39.  Praise. 

40.  Fetes,  wedding. 

41.  Ignominy. 

42.  A  short  and  unhappy  life, 

the  tomb. 

43.  Religious  ceremonies,  a 

priest. 

44.  Power,  pomp,  monarchy. 

45.  Population. 

46.  Fertility. 

47.  Long  and  happy  life. 

48.  Tribunal,  judgment,  judge. 

49.  Love  of  money. 

50.  Pardon,  liberty. 
60.  Widowhood. 

70.  Initiated,    science,  the 

graces. 
75.  The  world. 
77.  Pardon,  repentance. 

80.  A  cure. 

81.  An  adept. 

90.  Blindness,  error,  affliction. 
100.  Divine  favor. 
120.  Patriotism,  praises. 
200.  Irresolution. 
215.  Calamity. 

300.  Safety,  belief,  faith,  phil- 
osophy. 

318.  Divine  messenger. 

350.  Hope,  justice. 

360.  Home,  society. 

365.  Astronomy. 

400.  Long  and  wearisome  voy- 
age. 

490.  Priests,  theology. 
500.  Holiness. 


198 


FORTUNE-TELLER  AND  BREAM-BOOK. 


900.  War,  combats,  struggles. 
1000.  Mercy. 
1095.  Taciturnity. 
1260.  Torments. 
3390.  Persecution. 


600.  Perfection. 

666.  A  malicious  person,  ma- 
chinations, plots,  ene- 
mies. 

700.  Strength. 

800.  Empire. 

Now  write  down  the  name  of  the  person  whose  character  you 
wish  to  learn,  and  beneath  each  letter  composing  it  place  the  cor- 
responding number.  (Should  the  letter  W  be  one  of  them,  it  mast 
be  represented  by  two  V's,  which  will  give  the  number  1400.)  Add 
them  all  together,  and  by  comparing  the  product  with  the  table  of 
significations,  you  will  discover  what  you  wish  to  know.  When 
the  product  exceeds  the  highest  number  given  in  the  table,  the 
first  number  is  cut  off,  and  the  remainder  alone  used.  We  give  an 
example,  supposing  the  name  to  be  Jean  Jacques  Rousseau ; — 


J 

600 

J 

600 

E  80 

E 

5 

A 

1 

0  50 

A 

1 

C 

3 

U  200 

N 

40 

Q 

70 

S  90 

U 

200 

S  90 

646 

E 

5 

E  5 

S 

90 

A  1 

—  U  200 

969   

  716 

646  Jean. 
969  Jacques. 
716  Eousseau. 

2331  Total. 

Of  this  total  of  2331,  we  cut  off  the  2,000,  leaving  331,  which,  on 
reference  to  the  table  of  significations,  reads  as  follows  : — Belief, 
faith,  and  philosophy,  for  300 ;  love  of  glory,  virtue,  for  31 ;  giving 
no  bad  sketch  of  his  character.  It  may  be  as  well  to  observe,  that, 
when  the  total  consists  of  a  number  not  precisely  marked  on  the 
table,  the  answer  may  be  obtained  by  dividing  it  into  hundreds, 
tens,  and  units ;  thus,  supposing  the  number  obtained  was  179,  it 
could  be  divided  into  100,  70,  and  9.  Care  must  be  taken  to  add 
up  the  lines  of  figures  correctly,  as  the  slightest  mistake  will,  of 
course,  entirely  change  the  whole  meaning. 

FORTUNE-TELLING 

BY  THE  GROUNDS  IN  A  TEA  OR  COFFEE  CUP. 

Pour  the  grounds  of  tea  or  coffee  into  a  white  cup ;  shake  them 
well  about,  so  as  to  spread  them  over  the  surface ;  reverse  the  cup 


* 


FOETUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 

to  drain  away  the  superfluous  contents,  and  then  exercise  yowC 
fertile  fancy  in  discovering  what  the  figures  thus  formed  repre- 
sent. Long  wavy  lines  denote  vexations -and  losses, — their  impor- 
tance depending  on  the  number  of  lines.  Straight  ones,  on  the 
contrary,  foretell  peace,  tranquility,  and  long  life.  Human  figures 
are  usuilly  good  omens,  announcing  lovo  affairs  and  marriage. 
If  circular  figures  predominate,  the  person  for  whom  the  experi- 
ment is  made  may  expect  to  receive  money.  If  these  circles  are 
connected  by  straight  unbroken  lines,  there  will  be  delay  but  ul- 
timately all  will  be  satisfactory.  Squares  foretell  peace  and  hap- 
piness ;  oblong  figures,  family  discord  ;  whilst  curved,  twisted,  or 
angular  ones,  are  certain  signs  of  vexations  and  annoyances,  their 
probable  duration  being  determined  by  the  number  of  figures.  A 
crown  signifies  honor ;  a  cross,  news  of  a  death ;  a  ring,  marriage, 
— if  a  letter  can  be  discovered  near  it,  that  will  be  the  initial  of  the 
name  of  the  future  spouse.  If  the  ring  is  in  the  clear  part  of  the 
cup,  it  foretells  a  happy  union ;  if  clouds  are  about  it,  the  contrary ; 
but  if  it  should  chance  to  be  quite  at  the  bottom,  then  the  mar- 
riage will  never  take  place.  A  leaf  of  clover,  or  trefoil,  is  a  good 
sign,  denoting,  if  at  the  top  of  the  cup,  speed}-  good  fortune,  which 
will  be  more  or  less  distant  ia  case  it  appears  at  or  near  the  bot- 
tom. The  anchor,  if  at  the  bottom  of  the  cup,  denotes  success  in 
business  ;  at  the  top,  and  in  the  clear  part,  love  and  fidelity ;  but 
in  thick,  or  cloudy  parts,  inconstancy.  The  serpent  is  always  the 
sign  of  an  enemy,  and  if  in  the  cloudy  part,  gives  warning  that 
great  prudence  will  be  necessary  to  ward  off  misfortune.  The 
coffin  portends  news  of  a  death  or  long  illness.  The  dog,  at  the 
top  of  the  cup,  denotes  true  and  faithful  friends ;  in  the  middle, 
that  they  are  not  to  be  trusted  ;  but  at  the  bottom,  that  they  are  se- 
cret enemies.  The  lily,  at  the  top  of  the  cup,  foretells  a  happy 
marriage ;  at  the  bottom,  anger.  A  letter  signifies  news  ;  if  in  the 
clear,  very  welcome  news ;  surrounded  by  dots,  a  remittance  of 
money ;  but  if  hemmed  in  by  clouds,  bad  tidings  and  losses ;  a 
heart  near  it  denotes  a  love-letter.  A  single  tree  portends  restora- 
tion to  health  :  a  group  of  trees  in  the  clear,  misfortunes  which 
may  be  avoided;  several  trees,  wide  apart,  promise  that  your 
wishes  will  be  accomplished ;  if  encompassed  by  dashes,  it  is  a 
token  that  your  fortune  is  in  its  blossom,  and  only  requires  care 
to  bring  to  maturity ;  it  surrounded  by  dots,  riches.  Mountains 
signify  either  friends  or  enemies,  according  to  their  situation. 
The  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  denote  happiness  and  success.  The 
clouds,  happiness  or  misfortune,  according  as  they  are  bright  cr 
dark.  Birds  are  good  omens,  but  quadrupeds — with  the  exception 
of  the  dog — foretell  trouble  and  difficulties.  Fish  imply  good 
news  from  across  the  water.  A  triangle  portends  an  unexpected 
legacy ;  a  single  straight  line,  a  journey.  The  figure  of  a  man  in- 
dicates a  speedy  visitor ;  if  the  arm  is  outstretched,  a  present; 


FOETUNE-TELLEE  AND  DEEAM-BOOK. 


when  the  figure  is  very  distinct,  it  shows  that  the  person  expected 
will  be  of  dark  complexion,  and  vice  versa.  A  crown  near  a  cross 
indicates  a  large  fortune,  resulting  from  a  death.  Flowers  are 
signs  of  joy,  happiness,  and  peaceful  life.  A  heart  surrounded  by 
dots  signifies  joy,  occasioned  by  the  receipt  of  money;  with  a 
ring  near  it,  approaching  marriage. 

How  to  Bead  Your  Fortune  by  the  White  of  an  Egg. — Break  a  new- 
laid  egg,  and,  carefully  separating  the  yolk  from  the  white,  drop 
the  latter  into  a  large  tumbler  half  full  of  water ;  place  this,  un- 
covered, in  some  dry  place,  and  let  it  remain  untouched  for  four- 
and-twenty  hours,  by  which  time  the  white  of  the  egg  will  have 
formed  itself  into  various  figures — rounds,  squares,  ovals,  ani- 
mals, trees,  crosses,  etc. — which  are  to  be  interpreted  in  the  same 
manner  as  those  formed  by  the  coffee-grounds.  Of  course,  the 
more  whites  there  are  in  the  glass,  the  more  figures  there  will  be. 

This  is  a  very  pretty  experiment,  and  much  practiced  by  the 
young  Scotch  maidens,  who,  however,  believe  it  to  have  more  effi- 
cacy when  tried  on  either  Midsummer  Eve  or  Hallowe'en  (31st  Oc- 
tober). 

To  Choose  a  Husband  by  the  Hair. — Black. — Stout  and  healthy, 
but  apt  to  be  cross  and  surly ;  if  very  black  and  smooth,  and  a 
large  quantity,  will  be  found  where  he  fixes  his  attachment,  not  ad- 
dicted to  lewdness,  make  a  good  husband,  and  take  care  of  his  fami- 
ly ;  but  if  short  and  curly,  will  be  of  an  unsettled  temper,  given  to 
drinking,  somewhat  quarrelsome,  will  show  much  fondness  at  first 
paying  his  addresses,  but  be  unsteady  and  forgetful  afterwards. 

White,  ok  I'aib  Haik. — Will  be  of  a  weak  constitution,  rather 
stupid,  very  fond  of  music,  will  cut  no  great  figure  in  the  world, 
very  moderate  in  his  amorous  wishes,  but  get  many  children. 

Yellow. — Inclined  to  jealousy. 

Light  Brown. — Neither  very  good  nor  very  bad,  middling  in  all 
respects,  rather  given  to  women,  but  upon  the  whole  is  a  good 
character. 

Dark  Bko^^n. — Sensible  and  good-humored,  careful,  attentive 
to  business,  and  generally  makes  a  good  husband. 

Very  Dark  Brown. — Of  a  robust  constitution,  and  of  a  grave 
disposition,  but  good-tempered  and  sensible ;  very  fond  of  his 
wife,  though  he  may  chance  now  and  then  to  go  astray. 

Ked. — Will  be  artful,  cunning,  and  deceitful,  and  much  given  to 
wenching ;  loves  a  chemise  so  well  that  his  wife  will  scarce  have 
one  to  her  back ;  but  is  generallv  of  a  lively  temper. 

BY  DICE; 

or,  easy  way  to  find  out  what  is  going  to  happen. 
(Fob  these  little  Messengers  of  Fate  tell  with  wonderful  facility 


tOBTTJNE-TELLER  AND  DItEAM-BOOK. 


301 


the  common  occurrences,  and  are  a  source  of  harmless  amusement 

and  knowledge  to  the  inquirer.) 

Have  ready  three  dice,  but  try  your  first  question  with  a  single 
one,  the  next  with  two,  and  the  third  with  three.  This  may  be 
done  three  times  over  at  one  sitting,  making  in  all  nine  questions, 
and  their  suitable  answers,  but  no  more ;  for  the  dice  then  turn 
fatal,  and  of  evil  tendenc"  to  the  holder,  and  only  serve  to  con- 
fuse the  truth. 

One. — A  letter  or  paper  of  great  importance. 

Two. — A  long  journey  from  which  you  will  benefit. 

Three.— A  surprise,  and  causes  a  strange  bed. 

Four. — You  will  soon  meet  with  ingratitude. 

Five. — A  new  lover,  but  not  the  right  one  yet. 

Six. — Unexpected  money,  and  prosperity  before  you. 

ANSWERS  FROM  THE  TWO  DICE. 

Two. — A  vexatious  dispute,  not  easily  settled. 
Three. — A  merry  night,  followed  by  unpleasant  consequences 
and  expense. 

Four. — You  have  something  on  your  mind,  and  the  sooner  you 
act  according  to  the  dictates  of  your  own  conscience  the  better,  or 
it  will  be  too  late. 

Five. — You  will  soon  have  a  pleasant  adventure. 

Six. — You  arc  doomed  to  be  happy  in  wedlock. 

Seven. — You  will  meet  with  a  severe  trouble. 

Eight. — If  dice  tell  true,  then  peace  adieu  ;  for  you  will  soon  in- 
volve yourself  in  a  labyrinth  of  perplexities  and  trouble. 

Nine. — You  have  made  a  hasty  promise,  and  do  not  mean  to  ful- 
fill it,  but  you  will  be  compelled'^to  do  it,  and  cannot  get  off. 

Ten. — You  ruin  your  own  fortune  by  needless  delays,  and  the 
opportunities  will  be  lost. 

Eleven. — You  have  secret  enemies,  in  whom  you  confide;  but 
you  will  soon  discover  them. 

Twelve. — You  will  never  thrive  by  what  is  called  luck ;  so  be 
industrious,  and  that  will  bring  you  sure  gain ;  and  perseverance 
will  bring  you  wealth. 

ANSWERS  from  THE  THREE  DICE. 

Three. — A  long  sail  on  the  wide  ocean. 

Four. — Pleasure  in  youth,  and  then  a  sad  reverse. 

Five. — Many  changes,  but  a  happy  old  age. 

Six. — Unhappy  in  love,  but  fortunate  in  other  respects. 

Seven. — Something  unpleasant  is  preparing  for  you. 

Eight. — A  great  rise  in  life,  and  soon. 

Nine. — Do  not  venture  on  the  water  for  a  month  to  Gom«. 

Ten. — You  will  be  ill-treated  by  a  near  relation. 


FORTU!<nE-TELLEIl  AND  DBEAM-BOOK. 


Eleven. — You  are  on  the  point  of  entering  into  an  engagement 
wliich  you  will  repent. 

Twelve. — A  hasty  quarrel  through  a  trifle^. 

Thirteen. — A  great  loss,  and  severely  felt. 

FotJETEEN. — You  will  soou  Change  your  present  abode. 

Fifteen. — You  will  soon  fall  sick,  but  recover  speedily,  and 
meet  with  much  kindness. 

Sixteen. — You  will  soon  discover  friends  from  foes. 

Seventeen. — You  will  gain  a  happy  establishment. 

Eighteen. — Long  life,  riches,  happiness,  and  content. 

If  the  same  throw  occurs  twice  to  one  person,  it  foretells  a 
height  of  power  they  could  never  expect. 

LUCKY  DAYS,  Etc. 

The  day  of  the  week  on  which  you  were  born  will  always  be  the 
best  for  you  to  begin  any  business,  but  not  to  complete  it ;  Fridays 
and  Tuesdays  are  best  for  women,  Sundays  and  Mondays  for  men. 

There  are  three  months  in  a  year  in  which  it  is  not  reckoned 
fortunate  to  enter  on  a  new  house  or  sign  a  lease ;  those  arc  April, 
July,  and  November;  neither  is  the  11th  of  any  month  good  for 
such  projects. 

Let  women  be  careful  what  they  transact  in  the  thirty-first  year 
of  their  life,  for  it  is  to  all  females  a  year  of  importance,  whether 
they  are  married  or  single ;  some  great  change  will  await  them, 
or  they  will  lay  under  peril  or  temptation,  have  a  great  loss  or 
great  gain,  go  an  unexpected  journe3^  or,  in  short,  something  or 
other  remarkable  is  to  happen,  and  dark-complexioned  women 
have  in  general  this  fate  stronger  than  others. 

THE  MOON. 

Lucky  days  for  business,  three  first  days  of  the  moon's  age ;  for 
marriage,  the  7th,  9th,  and  12th ;  requesting  favors,  14th,  15th, 
and  17th,  but  beware  the  16th  and  21st ;  to  answer  letters,  if  pos- 
sible choose  an  odd  day  of  the  moon ;  to  travel  on  land,  choose  the 
increase  of  the  moon ;  and  to  embark  on  the  ocean,  choose  the  de- 
cline. 

March  is  a  fortunate  month  for  beginning  a  new  building ;  and 
it  is  singular,  but  nevertheless  reckoned  true,  that  it  is  good  to 
open  a  concert-room,  a  music-shop,  or  begin  a  new  piece  of  music 
on  the  eve  of  St.  Cecilia.  It  is  not  good  to  marry  on  your  own 
birthday,  or  on  any  martyr  s ;  every  other  saint's  day  is  fortunate 
in  this  concern ;  neither  is  it  fortunate  for  a  woman  to  marry  in 
colors ;  let  her  dress  be  as  white  as  possible,  except  ghe  boa  widow, 
then  let  her  choose  some  pleasant  color,  but  beware  of  green  and 
yellow. 

To  meet  a  funeral  as  you  are  going  to  church  to  tie  the  nuptial 
knot,  betokens  the  death  of  your  first  child  in  its  infancy. 


FOKTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


To  meet  a  white  horse  when  you  are  going  on  any  particular 
business  is  a  sign  of  success,  and  a  piebald  one,  if  you  are  going 
to  ask  a  favor ;  to  be  followed  by  a  strange  dog  is  lucky,  especially 
to  a  man  who  is  going  courting. 

For  a  pigeon  to  fly  into  the  house  not  belonging  to  it  is  a  sign  of 
sickne=is,  and  if  it  rests  on  a  bed,  it  is  death ;  but  two  pigeons  are  a 
sign  of  a  wedding. 

Never  pick  up  an  odd  glove  in  the  street;  it  is  not  fortunate. 

Never  tell  any  dream  before  breakfast,  nor  any  at  all  that  you 
use  a  charm  to  procure,  even  to  your  most  trusty  friend.  If  you 
dream  any  dream  three  times,  look  on  it  as  an  omen  or  friendly 
warning,  particularly  if  it  regard  water,  traveling,  or  any  other 
perilous  business.  It  may  be  intended  by  a  watchful  Providence 
to  save  you  from  danger,  so  do  not  despise  the  caution.  There 
are  several  remarkable  instances  in  history — such  as  William  the 
Second,  the  Duke  of  Buckingham,  and  many  others — who  might 
have  escaped  death  at  that  time  by  a  due  attention  to  these  warn- 
ings. 

FORTUNE-TELLING  BY  CARDS. 

In  fortune-telling  by  cards — as  in  all  games  in  which  cards  are 
employed — the  Ace  ranks  highest  in  value.  Then  comes  the  King, 
followed  by  the  Queen,  Knave,  Ten,  Nine,  Eight,  and  Seven — 
these  being  generally  the  only  cards  used. 

-  The  order  and  comparative  value  of  the  different  suits  is  as  fol- 
lows :  First  on  the  list  stand  "  Clubs,"  as  they  mostly  portend  hap- 
piness :  and — no  matter  how  numerous  or  how  accompanied — are 
rarely  or  never  of  bad  augury.  Next  come  "Hearts,"  which 
usually  signify  joy,  liberality,  or  good  temper;  "Diamonds,"  on 
the  contrary,   denote   delay,   quarrels,   and   annoyance ;  and 

"Spades" — the  worst  suit  of  all — grief,  sickness,  and  loss  of 
money. 

We  are,  of  course,  speaking  generally,  as,  in  many  cases,  the 
position  of  cards  entirely  changes  their  signification — their  indi- 
vidual and  relative  meaning  being  often  widely  different  Thus, 
for  example,  the  King  of  Hearts,  the  Nine  of  Hearts,  and  the  Nine 
of  Clubs,  respectively  signify — a  liberal  man,  joy,  and  success  in 
love;  but  change  their  position,  by  placing  the  King  between  the 
two  Nines,  and  you  would  read  that  a  man,  then  rich  and  happy, 
would  be  ere  long  consigned  to  a  prison  ! 

The  individual  meaning  attached  to  the  thirty-two  cards  em-« 
ployed,  is  as  follows : — 

Ace  of  Clubs. — Signifies  joy,  money,  or  good  news ;  if  reversed, 
the  joy  will  be  of  brief  duration. 

Kino  of  Clubs. — A  frank,  liberal  man,  fond  of  serving  hU 
friends ;  if  reversed,  he  will  meet  with  a  disappointment. 


FORTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


Queen  of  Clubs. — An  affectionate  woman,  but  quick  tempered 
and  touchy ;  if  reversed,  jealous  and  malicious. 

Knave  of  Clubs. — A  clever  and  enterprising  young  man ;  if  re- 
versed, a  harmless  flirt  and  flatterer. 

Ten  of  Clubs. — Fortune,  success,  or  grandeur ;  reversed,  want 
of  success  in  some  small  matter. 

Nine  of  Clubs. — Unexpected  gain,  or  a  legacy ;  reversed,  some 
trifling  present. 

Eight  of  Clubs. — A  dark  person's  affections,  which,  if  returned, 
will  be  the  cause  of  great  prosperity ;  reversed,  those  of  a  fool,  and 
attendant  unhappiness  if  reciprocated. 

Seven  of  Clubs. — A  small  sum  of  money,  or  unexpectedly  re- 
covered debt ;  reversed,  a  smaller  amount. 

Ace  of  Hearts.— A  love-letter,  or  some  pleasant  news;  re- 
versed, a  friend's  visit. 

King  of  Heaets. — A  fair,  liberal  man ;  reversed,  will  meet  with 
disappointment. 

Queen  of  IIeaets. — A  mild,  amiable  woman;  reversed,  has 
been  crossed  in  love. 

Knave  of  Hearts. — A  gay  young  bachelor,  who  dreams  only 
of  pleasure ;  reversed,  a  discontented  military  man. 

Ten  of  Hearts. — Happiness,  triumph;  reversed,  some  slight 
anxiety. 

Nine  of  Hearts. — Joy,  satisfaction,  success ;  reversed,  a  pass- 
ing chagrin. 

Eight  of  Hearts. — A  fair  person's  affections ;  reversed,  indif- 
ference on  their  part. 

Seven  of  Hearts. — Pleasant  thoughts,  tranquillity;  reversed, 
ennui,  weariness. 

Ace  of  Diamonds. — A  letter,  soon  to  be  received ;  and,  if  the 
card  be  reversed,  containing  bad  news. 

King  of  Diamonds. — A  fair  man — generally  in  the  army — but 
both  cunning  and  dangerous ;  if  reversed,  a  threatened  danger, 
caused  by  machinations  on  his  part. 

Queen  of  Diamonds. — An  ill-bred,  scandal-loving  woman ;  if 
reversed,  she  is  to  be  greatly  feared. 

Knave  of  Diamonds. — A  tale-bearing  serwant,  or  unfaithful 
friend ;  if  reversed,  will  be  the  cause  of  mischief. 

Ten  of  Diamonds.— A  journey,  or  change  of  residence;  if  re- 
versed, it  will  not  prove  fortunate. 

«  Nine  of  Diamonds. — Annoyance,  delay ;  if  reversed,  either  a 
family  or  a  love  quarrel. 

Eight  of  Diamonds. — Love-making;  if  reversed,  unsuccessful. 

Seven  of  Diamonds. — Satire,  mockery;  reversed,  a  foolish 
scandal. 

N.  B. — In  order  to  know  whether  the  Ace,  Ten,  Nine,  Eight, 


FOKTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


205 


and  Seven  of  Diamonds  aro  roveraed,  it  is  better  to  make  a  small 
pencil-mark  on  each,  to  show  which  is  the  top  of  the  card. 

Ace  op  Spades. — Pleasure ;  reversed,  grief,  had  news. 

King  of  Spades. — An  envious  man,  an  enemy,  or  a  dishonest 
lawyer,  who  i3  to  bo  feared  ;  reversed,  impotent  malice. 

Queen  op  Spades. — A  widow ;  reversed,  a  dangerous  and  ma- 
licious woman. 

Knave  op  Spades. — A  dark,  ill-bred  young  man ;  reversed,  he 
is  plottin-jf  some  mischief. 

Tex  of  Spades. — Tears,  a  prison;  reversed,  brief  affliction. 

Nine  of  Spades.— Tidings  of  a  death;  if  reversed,  it  will  be 
some  near  relative.  • 

Eight  of  Spades.— Approaching  illness ;  reversed,  a  marriage 
broken  off,  or  offer  refused. 

Seven  of  Spades. — Slight  annoyances ;  reversed,  a  foolish  in- 
trigue. 

The  Court  cards  of  Hearts  and  Diamonds  usually  represent  per- 
sons of  fair  complexion ;  Clubs  and  Spades  the  opposite. 

Four  Aces,  coming  together,  or  following  each  other,  announce 
danger,  failure  in  business,  and  sometimes  imprisonment.  If  one 
or  more  of  them  be  reversed,  the  danger  will  be  lessened,  but  that 
is  all. 

Three  Aces,  coming  in  the  same  manner. — Good  tidings;  ii 
reversed,  folly. 

Two  Aces. — A  plot ;  if  reversed,  it  will  not  succeed. 

Four  Kings. — Rewards,  dignities,  honors;  reversed,  they  will 
be  less,  but  sooner  received. 

Three  Kings. — A  consultation  on  important  business,  the  result 
of  which  will  bo  highly  satisfactory ;  if  reversed,  success  will  be 
doubtful. 

Two  Kings. — A  partnership  in  business;  if  reversed,  a  dissolu- 
tion of  the  same.    Sometimes  this  only  denotes  friendly  projects. 

Four  Queens. — Company,  society ;  one  or  more  reversed  de- 
notes that  the  entertainment  will  not  go  off  well. 

Three  Queens. — Morning  calls ;  reversed,  chattering  and  scan- 
dal, or  deceit. 

Two  Queens. — A  meeting  between  friends ;  reversed,  poverty, 
troubles,  in  which  one  will  involve  the  other. 

Four  Knaves. — A  noisy  party — mostly  young  people;  reversed, 
a  drinking  bout. 

Three  Knaves. — False  friends ;  reversed,  a  quarrel  with  some 
low  person. 

Two  Knaves. — Evil  intentions ;  reversed,  danger. 
Four  Tens. — Great  suc,Qei33  in  projected  enterprises ;  reversed, 
the  success  will  not  be  so. brilliant,  but  still  it  will  bo  sure. 


FOETUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


Theee  Tens. — Improper  conduct ;  reversed,  failure. 

Two  Tens. — Change  of  trade  or  profession ;  reversed,  denotes 
that  the  prospect  is  only  a  distant  one. 

Four  Nines. — A  great  surprise ;  reversed,  a  public  dinner. 

Theee  Nines. — Joy,  fortune,  health ;  reversed,  wealth,  lost  by 
imprudence. 

Two  Nines. — A  little  gain  ;  reversed,  trifling  losses  at  cards. 
FouK  Eights. — A  short  journey ;  reversed,  the  return  of  a  friend 
or  relative. 

Three  Eights. — Thoughts  of  marriage;  reversed,  folly,  flirta- 
tion. 

Two  Eights. — A  brief  love-dream;  reversed,  small  pleasures  • 
and  trifling  pains. 

Four  Sevens. — Intrigues  among  servants  or  low  people,  threats, 
snares,  and  disputes  ;  reversed,  that  their  malice  will  be  impotent  , 
!:o  harm,  and  that  the  punishment  will  fall  on  themselves. 

Three  Sevens. — Sickness,  premature  old  age;  reversed,  slight 
and  brief  indisposition. 

Two  Sevens. — Levity ;  reversed,  regret. 

Any  picture-card  between  two  others  of  equal  value — as  two 
tens,  two  aces,  6tc. — denotes  that  the  person  represented  by  that 
card  runs  the  risk  ot  a  prison. 

It  requires  no  great  effort  to  commit  these  -significations  to 
memory,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that  they  are  but  what  the 
alphabet  is  to  the  printed  book ;  a  little  attention  and  practice, 
however,  will  soon  enable  the  learner  to  form  these  mystic  letters 
into  words,  and  words  into  phrases ;  in  other  language,  to  assemble 
i:hese  cards  together,  and  read  the  events,  past  and  to  come,  their 
pictured  faces  pretend  to  reveal. 

There  are  several  ways  of  doing  this  ;  but  we  will  give  them  all, 
one  after  another,  so  as  to  afford  our  readers  an  ample  choice  of 
methods  of  prying  into  futurity. 

No.  1. — Dealing  ike  Cards  by  Threes. — Take  the  pack  of  thirty-two 
selected  cards  (viz.,  the  Ace,  King,  Queen,  Knave,  Ten,  Nine,  Eight, 
and  Seven  of  each  suit),  having  laefore  lixed  upon  the  one  you  in- 
Lend  to  represent  yourself,  supposing  always  you  are  making  the 
'.'ssay  on  your  own  behalf.  If  not,  it  must  represent  the  person  for 
whom  you  arc  acting.  In  doing  this,  it  is  necessary  to  remember 
that  the  card  chosen  should  be  according  to  the  complexion  of  the 
chooser — King  or  Queen  of  Diamonds  for  a  very  fair  person,  the 
same  of  Hearts  for  one  rather  darker,  Clubs  for  one  darker  still, 
md  Spades  only  for  one  very  dark  indeed.  The  card  chosen  also 
loses  its  signification,  and  simply  becomes  the  representative  of  a 
dark  or  fair  man  cr  woman,  as  the  case  may  be. 

This  point  having  been  settled,  shufilo  the  cards,  and  either  cut 
them  or  have  them  cut  for  you  (according  to  whether  you  are 


FORTUNE-TELLER  AOT)  DREAM-BOOK. 


207 


acting  for  yourself  or  another  person),  taking  care  to  use  the  left 
hand.  That  done,  turn  them  up  by  threes,  and  every  time  you  find 
in  these  triplets  two  of  the  same  suit — such  as  two  Hearts,  two  Clubs, 
etc. — withdraw  the  highest  card  and  place  it  on  the  table  before 
you.  If  the  triplet  should  chance  to  be  all  of  the  same  suit,  the 
highest  card  is  still  to  be  the  only  one  \rithdrawn ;  but  should  it  con- 
sist of  three  of  the  samz  v:due  but  dlffertnt  suits,  such  as  three  Kings, 
etc.,  they  are  to  be  all  appropriated.  We  will  suppose  that,  after 
having  turned  up  the  cards  tiiree  by  three,  you  have  been  able  to 
withdrav/  six,  leaving  twenty-six,  which  you  shuffle  and  cut,  and 
again  turn  up  by  threes,  acting  precisely  as  you  did  before,  until 
you  have  obtained  either  thirteen,  fifteen,  or  seventeen  cards.  Kecol- 
lect  that  the  number  must  always  be  uneven,  and  that  the  card 
representing  the  person  for  whom  the  essay  is  made  must  make 
one  of  it.  Even  if  the  requisite  thirteen,  fifteen,  or  seventeen  have 
been  obtained,  and  this  one  has  not  made  its  appearance,  the  op- 
eration must  be  recommenced.  Let  us  suppose  the  person  whose 
fortune  is  being  read  to  be  a  lady,  represented  by  the  Queen  of 
Hearts,  and  that  fifteen  cards  have  been  obtained  and  laid  out — 
in  the  form  of  a  half  circle — in  the  order  thc}^  were  drawn,  viz.,  the 
Seven  of  Clubs,  the  Ten  of  Diamonds,  the  Seven  of  Hearts,  the 
Knave  of  Clubs,  the  King  of  Diamonds,  the  Nine  of  Diamonds,  the 
Ten  of  Hearts,  the  Queen  of  Spades,  the  Eight  of  Hearts,  the  Knave 
of  Diamonds,  the  Queen  of  Hearts,  the  Nine  of  Clubs,  the  Seven  of 
Spades,  the  Ace  of  Clubs,  and  the  Eight  of  Spades.  Having  con- 
sidered your  cards,  you  will  find  among  them  two  Queens,  two 
Knaves,  two  tens,  three  sevens,  two  eights,  and  two  nines ;  you  are, 
therefore,  able  to  announce, — 

"The  two  Queens  before  mo  signify  the  re-union  of  friends  ;  the 
two  Knaves,  that  there  is  mischief  being  made  between  tliem. 
These  two  tens  denote  a  change  of  profession,  which,  from  one  of 
them  being  between  two  sevens,  I  see  will  not  be  effected  without 
some  difficulty, — the  cause  of  which,  according  to  these  three 
sevens,  will  be  illness.  However,  these  two  nines  promise  some 
small  gain,  resulting — so  say  these  two  eights — from  a  love  affair." 

You  now  begin  to  count  seven  curds,  frcm  r'ght  to  left,  beginning 
with  the  Queen  of  Hearts,  who  represents  the  lady  you  are  acting 
for.    The  seventh  being  the  King  of  Diamonds,  you  may  say, — 

"  You  often  think  of  a  fair  man  in  uniform." 

The  next  seventh  card  (counting  the  King  of  Diamonds  as  one) 
proves  to  bo  the  Ace  of  Clubs  ;  you  add, — 

"You  will  receive  from  him  some  very  joyful  tidings  ;  he  besides, 
intends  making  you  a  present." 

Count  the  Ace  of  Clubs  as  "one,"  and  proceeding  to  the  next 
seventh  card,  the  Queen  of  Spades,  you  resume, — 

"A  widow  is  endeavoring  to  injure  you,  on  this  very  account; 


208 


FOETUNE-TELLEE  AND  DEEAM-BOOK. 


and"  (the  seventh  card,  counting  the  Queen  as  one,  being  the  Ten 
of  Diamonds)  "the  annoyance  she  pives  you  will  oblige  you  to 
either  take  a  journey  or  change  your  residence ;  but "  (this  Ten  of 
Diamonds  being  imprisoned  between  two  sevens)  "your  journey  or 
removal  will  meet  with  some  obstacle." 

On  proceeding  to  count  as  before,  calling  the  Ten  of  Diamonds 
one,  you  will  find  the  seventh  card  prove  to  be  the  Queen  of  Hearts 
herself,  the  person  for  whom  you  are  acting,  and  may  therefore 
safely  conclude  by  saying, — 

"But  this  you  vvdll  overcome  of  yourself,  without  needing  any 
one's  aid  or  assistance." 

Now  take  the  two  cards  at  either  extremity  of  the  half  circle, 
which  are,  respectively,  the  Eight  of  Spades  and  the  Seven  of  Clubs, 
imite  them,  and  continue, — 

"  A  sickness,  which  will  lead  to  your  receiving  a  small  sum  of 
money." 

Eepeat  the  same  manoeuvre,  which  brings  together  the  Ace  of 
Clubs  and  the  Ten  of  Diamonds, — 

"Good  news,  which  will  make  you  decide, on  taking  a  journey, 
destined  to  prove  a  very  happy  one,  and  which  will  occasion  you 
to  receive  a  sum  of  money." 

The  next  cards  united,  being  the  Seven  of  Spades  and  the  Seven 
of  Hearts,  you  say, — 

"  Tranquillity  and  peace  of  mind,  followed  by  slight  anxiety, 
quickly  succeeded  by  love  and  happiness." 

Then  come  the  Nine  of  Clubs  and  the  Knave  of  Clubs,  fore^ 
telling, — 

"You  will  certainly  receive  money,  through  the  exertions  of  a 
.clever  dark  young  man — Queen  of  Hearts  and  King  of  Diamonds 
— which  comes  from  the  fair  man  in  uniform  ;  this  rencounter  an- 
nounces some  great  happiness  in  store  for  you,  and  complete  ful- 
fillment of  your  wiskes.  Knave  of  Diamonds  and  Nine  of  Dia- 
monds— Although  this  happy  result  will  be  delayed  for  a  time, 
through  some  fair  young  man,  not  famed  for  liis  delicacy.  Eight 
of  Hearts  and  Ten  of  Hearts — Love,  joy,  and  triumph.  The  Queen 
of  Spades,  who  remains  alone,  is  the  widov/  who  is  endeavoring  to 
injure  you,  and  who  finds  herself  abandoned  by  all  her  friends  !" 

Now  gather  up  the  cards  you  have  been  using,  shuffle^and  cut 
them  with  tlie  left  hand,  and  proceed  to  make  them  into  three 
packs  by  dealing  one  to  the  left,  one  in  the  middle,  and  one  to  the 
right;  a  fourth  is  laid  aside  to  form  "a  surprise.  '  Then  continue 
to  deal  the  cards  to  each  of  the  three  packs  in  turn,  until  their 
number  is  exhausted,  when  it  will  be  found  that  the  left-hand  and 
middle  packs  contain  each  five  cards,  whilst  the  one  on  the  right 
hand  consists  of  only  four. 

Now  ask  the  person  consulting  you  to  select  one  of  the  three 


FOBTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


209 


packs.  Wo  will  suppose  this  to  be  the  middle  one,  and  that  the 
cards  comprising  it  are  the  Knave  of  Diamonds,  the  King  of  Dia- 
monds, the  Seven  of  Spades,  the  Qaeen  of  Spades,  and  the  Seven 
of  Clubs.  These,  by  roGollccting  oar  previous  instructions  regard- 
ing the  individual  and  relative  signification  of  the  cards,  are  easily 
interpreted  as  follows : 

*'  The  Knave  of  Clubs — A  fair  young  man,  possessed  of  no  deli- 
cacy of  feeling,  who  seeks  to  injure — the  King  of  Diamonds— a 
fair  man  in  uniform — Seven  of  Spades — and  will  succeed  in  causing 
him  some  annoyance — the  Queen  of  Spades — at  the  instigation  of 
a  spiteful  woinan — Seven  of  Clubs — but  by  means  of  a  small  sum 
of  money  matters  will  be  finally  easily  arranged." 

Next  take  up  the  lert-ha:id  pack,  which  is  "for  the  house," — the 
former  one  ha\  ing  been  for  tlie  lady  herself.  Supposing  it  to  con- 
sist of  the  Queen  of  Hearts,  the  Knave  of  CIu'ds,  the  Eight  of 
Hearts,  the  Nino  of  Diamonds,  and  the  Ace  of  Clubs,  they  would 
read  thus : 

"  Queen  of  Hearts — The  lady  whoso  fortune  is  being  told  is,  or 
soon  will  be,  in  a  house — Xnavo  of  Clubs — where  she  will  meet 
with  a  dark  young  man,  v/ho — Eight  of  HcarLs — vvdll  entreat  her 
assistance  to  for.vard  his  interests  with  a  fair  girl — Nine  of  Dia- 
monds— lie  having  met  with  delays  and  disappointment — Aco  of 
Clubs — but  a  letter  v.nll  arrive  announcing  the  possession  of  money, 
which  will  remove  all  dilTiculties." 

The  thir  I  pack  is  "for  those  who  did  not  expect  it,"  and  will  bo 
compose  I  of  four  cards ;  let  us  say  the  Ten  of  Hearts,  Nino  of  Clubs, 
Eight  of  Spades,  and  Ten  of  Diamonds,  signifying — 

"  The  Ten  of  Hearts — An  unexpected  piece  of  good  fortune  and 
great  happiness — Nino  of  Clubs — caused  by  an  unlooked-for  leg- 
acy— Eight  of  Spades — which  joy  may  perhaps  be  followed  by  a 
slight  sickness — Ten  of  Spades — the  result  of  a  fatiguing  journey." 

There  now  remains  on  the  table  only  the  card  intended  for  "the 
surprise."  This,  however,  must  be  left  untouched,  the  other  cards 
gathered  up,  shuflled,  cut,  and  again  laid  out  in  three  packs,  not 
forgetting  at  the  first  deal  to  add  a  card  to  "the  surprise."  After 
the  different  packs  have  been  duly  examined  and  explained,  as 
before  described,  they  must  again  bo  gathered  up,  shuflled,  etc., 
indeed,  the  whole  operation  repeated,  after  which  the  three  cards 
forming  "  the  surprise  "  are  examined  ;  and  supposing  them  to  bo 
the  Seven  of  Plearts,  the  Knave  of  Clubs,  and  the  Queen  of  Spades, 
are  to  bo  thus  interpreted  : 

"Seven  of  Hearts — Pleasant  thoughts  and  friendly  intentions — 
Knave  of  Clubs — of  a  dark  young  man — Queen  of  Spades — rela- 
tive to  a  malicious  dark  woman,  or  widow,  who  will  cause  him 
much  unhappiness." 

No.  2. — Dealing  ihe  Cards  hy  Sevens. — After  having  shuffled  the 


rOBTUNE-TELLEB  AOT)  DBEAM-BOOK. 


pack  of  thirty-two  selected  cards — which,  as  we  before  stated, 
consist  of  the  Aco,  Kin.i?,  Queen,  Knave,  Ten,  Nine,  Eight,  and 
Sev  n,  of  each  suit, — either  cut  t'lem  yourself,  or,  if  acting  for 
ano  her  peroon,  l^c  that  pirsoa  cut  them,  taking  care  to  use  the 
le,iha  A.  Then  count  savcn  cards,  beginning  with  the  one  lying 
on  tne  top  of  the  pack.  The  first  six  are  useless,  so  put  them 
aside,  and  retain  only  the  seventh,  whi(  ]i  is  to  be  place:!  face  up- 
permost on  the  table  beiore  you.  Repeil  this  three  times  more, 
then  shuffle  and  cut  the  carls  you  hive  tiirown  on  one  side, 
toge  her  with  those  remaining  in  your  liand,  and  tell  Ihom  out  ia 
sevei  s  as  before,  im.il  y  )u  liave  thus  obtained  twelve  cirds.  It 
i?,  htwever,  indispansaV  1  i  that  the  one  representing  th.)  persoi 
whose  fortune  is  bei  ]g  told  should  be  among  the  number;  t  ere- 
fore,  the  whole  operation  muit  le  reeommeace  I  in  case  of  i  .  n3t 
having  made  its  appearance.  Your  t  .velve  e  r-ls  being  n  )vv  spie  id 
out  before  you  in  the  order  in  which  they  have  como  to  hand,  you 
may  begin  to  e>;plain  them  as  described  in  the  manner  of  dealing 
the  cards  in  t'.irtei, — always  bearing  in  mind  both  their  individual 
and  relative  signification.  Thus,  you  first  couat  the  cards  by 
sevens,  beginning  with  the  one  representing  the  person  for  whom 
you  are  acting,  going  from  right  to  left.  Then  take  the  two  cards 
at  either  extremity  of  the  line  or  half  circle,  and  unite  them,  and 
afterward  form  the  three  heaps  or  packs  and  "the  surprise"  pre- 
cisely as  we  have  before  described.  Indeed,  the  only  difference 
betwf^e  1  the  two  methods  is  the  manner  in  which  the  cards  are 
oLtaine  1. 

Ko.  3. — Dealing  the  Cards  hy  Fifteens. — After  having  well  shuffled 
and  cut  the  cards,  or,  as  we  have  before  said,  had  them  cut,  deal 
them  out  in  two  packs,  containing  sixteen  cards  in  each.  Desire 
the  per:On  consulting  jou.  to  choose  one  of  them;  lay  aside  the 
first  card,  to  form  "the  surprise;"  turn  up  the  other  fifteen,  and 
range  them  in  a  half  circle  before  you,  going  from  left  to  right, 
plaeing  them  in  the  order  in  which  they  come  to  hand,  and  taking 
care  to  re  nark  whether  the  one  representing  the  person  for  whom 
ycu  are  acting  be  among  them.  If  not,  the  cards  must  be  all 
gathere  I  up,  shuffled,  cut,  and  dealt  as  before,  and  this  must  be 
repeate  I  until  the  missing  card  makes  its  appearance  in  the  pack 
chosen  by  the  person  it  represents.  Now  proceed  to  explain  them 
— first,  by  interpreting  the  meaning  of  any  pairs,  triplets,  or  quar- 
tettes among  them  ;  then  by  counting  them  in  sevens,  {Toing  from 
right  to  left,  and  beginning  with  the  card  representing  the  person 
consul  iag  you  ;  and,  lastly,  by  taking  the  car'^Is  at  either  extremity 
of  the  line  and  pairing  them.  This  Ijeing  done,  gather  up  the  fif- 
teen cards,  shuffle,  cut,  and  deal  them  so  as  to  form  three  packs 
of  each  five  cards.  From  each  of  these  three  packs  withdraw  the 
topmost  card,  a-id  place  them  on  the  one  laid  aside  to  form  "the 
surprise,"  thus  forming  four  packs  of  four  cards  each. 


FOETUNE-TELLEE  AND  DEEAM-BOOK. 


211 


Desire  the  person  for  whom  you  are  acting  to  choose  one  of 
these  packs  "for  herself,"  or  "himself,"  as  the  case  may  be. 
Turn  it  up,  and  sjiread  out  the  four  cards  it  contains,  from  left  to 
right,  e::plaii.inpj  their  individual  and  relative  signification.  Next 
proeee  I  i-i  like  manner  with  the  pack  on  your  left  hand,  which  will 
be  "for  t  ie  house;"  then  the  third  one,  "for  those  who  do  not 
expect  it;"  and  lastly,  " the  surprise." 

in.  order  to  render  our  meaning  perfectly  clear,  we  will  give 
another  example.  Let  us  suppose  that  the  pack  for  the  person 
consulting  you  is  comj^osed  of  the  Knave  of  Hearts,  the  Ace  of 
Diamonds,  the  Queen  of  Clubs,  and  the  Eight  of  Spades  reversed. 
By  the  aid  of  the  list  of  meanings  we  have  given,  it  will  be  easy  to 
interpret  them  as  follows  : 

"The Knave  of  Hearts  is  a  gay  young  bachelor — the  Ace  of  Dia- 
monds— who  has  written,  or  will  very  soon  write,  a  letter — the 
Queen  of  Clubs — to  a  dark  woman — Eight  of  Spades  reversed — to 
make  proposals  to  her,  which  will  not  be  accepted." 

On  looking  back  to  the  list  of  significations,  it  will  be  found  to 
run  thus : — 

Knave  of  Heaets. — A  gay  young  bachelor,  who  thinks  only  of 
pleasure. 

Ace  of  Diamonds. — A  letter,  soon  to  be  received. 
Queen  of  Clubs. — An  affectionate  woman,  but  quick  tempered 
and  touchy. 

EiGKT  OF  Spades. — If  reversed,  a  marriage  broken  off,  or  offer 

refused. 

It  will  chus  ])e  seen  that  each  card  forms,  as  it  were,  a  phrase, 
from  an  p.ssemblage  of  which  nothing  but  a  little  practice  is  re- 
quired CO  for^fi  complete  sentences.  Of  this  we  Vv'ill  give  a  further 
example,  by  interpreting  the  signification  of  the  three  other  packs 
— "  For  the  house,"  "for  those  who  do  not  expect  it,"  and  "the 
surpribe."  The  first  of  these,  "for  the  house,"  we  will  suppose  to 
consist  of  the  Queen  of  Hearts,  the  Knave  of  Spades  reversed,  the 
Ace  of  Clubs,  and  the  Nine  of  Diamonds,  which  reads  thus  : 

"The  Queen  of  Hearts  is  a  fair  woman,  mild  and  amiable  in 
disposition,  who — Knave  of  Spades  reversed — will  be  deceived  by 
a  dark,  ill-bred  young  man — the  Ace  of  Clubs — but  she  will  receive 
some  good  news,  which  will  console  her — Nine  of  Diamonds — 
although  it  is  probable  that  the  news  may  bo  delayed." 

The  pack  "for  those  who  do  not  expect  it,"  consisting  of  the 
Queen  of  Diamonds,  the  King  of  Spades,  the  Ace  of  Hearts  re- 
versed, and  the  Seven  of  Spades,  would  signify, — 

"The  Queen  of  Diamonds  is  a  mischief-making  woman — the 
King  01  Spades — who  is  in  league  with  a  dishonest  lawyer — Ace 
of  Hearts  reversed — they  will  hold  a  consultation  together — Seven 
of  Spades — but  the  harm  they  will  do  will  soon  be  repaired," 

Last  comes  "the  surprise,"  formed  by,  W9  will  suppose,  th« 


212 


FORTUNE-TELLEB  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


Knave  of  Clubs,  the  Ten  of  Diamonds,  the  Queen  of  Spades,  and 
the  Nin3  of  Spades,  of  which  the  interpretation  is, — 

"The  Knave  of  Clubs  is  a  clever,  enterprising  young  man — Ten 
of  Diamonds — about  to  undertake  a  journey — Queen  of  Spades — 
for  the  purpose  of  visiting  a  widow — Nine  of  fcpades — but  one  or 
both  of  their  live 3  will  be  endangered. 

i\o.  4. — The  Tiven'y-cn''  Cards. — After  having  shuffled  the  thirty- 
two  cards,  and  cut,  or  had  them  cut,  with  the  left  land,  withdraw 
fr:m  the  pack  the  first  eleven,  and  Tar  them  on  one  ;  iJo.  The 
r  mainder — twenty-one  i:i  all — are  to  ho  again  shuffled  and  cut. 
T  at  done,  liy  the  topmost  car  l  on  one  side  to  fo:m  "  ihe  sur- 
pr:se,"  and  range  the  remaining  twenty  before  you,  in  the  order  in 
which  they  come  to  hand.  Then  look  whether  t'le  car.l  repre- 
senting the  person  consulting  you  be  among  them :  if  net,  one 
must  be  withihMwn  from  the  el  eve  i  useless  ones,  and  pi  c)  1  at  the 
right  extremity  of  the  row, — where  it  represents  the  missing  card, 
no  matter  what  it  may  really  be.  We  will,  however,  suppose  that 
the  person  wishing  to  make  the  essay  is  an  officer  in  the  army, 
and  consequently  represented  by  the  King  of  Diamonds,  and  that 
the  twenty  cards  ranged  before  j'ou  are — the  Queen  of  Diamonds, 
the  King  of  Clubs,  the  Ten  of  Hearts,  the  Ace  of  Spades,  the 
Quee  1  of  Hearts  reversed,  the  Seven  of  Spades,  the  Knave  of  Dia- 
mon  Is,  the  Ten  of  Clubs,  the  King  of  Spades,  the  Eight  of  Dia- 
mon  Is,  the  King  of  Hearts,  the  Nine  of  Clubs,  the  Knave  of  Spades 
rerer  :ed,  the  Seven  of  Hearts,  the  Ten  of  Spade?,  the  King  of  Dia- 
m^nls,  the  Ace  of  Diamonds,  the  Seven  of  Clubs,  the  Nine  of 
H  earts,  the  Ace  of  Clubs.  You  now  proceed  to  examine  the  cards 
as  they  lay,  and  perceiving  that  all  the  four  Kings  are  there,  you 
can  predict  that  groat  rewards  await  the  person  consulting  you, 
and  that  he  will  gain  great  dignity  and  honor.  The  two  Queens, 
cno  of  them  reversed,  announce  the  reunion  of  two  sorrowfvil 
fiieuds ;  the  three  Aces  foretell  good  news ;  the  three  Knaves,  one 
of  them  reverse  !,  quarrels  with  some  low  person ;  the  three  Tens, 
improper  conduct. 

You  now  begin  to  explain  the  cards,  commencing  with  the  first 
on  the  left,  viz.,  the  Queen  of  Diamonds:  "The  Queen  of  Dia- 
monds is  a  mischief-making,  underbred  woman — the  King  of 
Clubs — endeavoring  to  win  the  affections  of  a  worthy  and  estima- 
ble man— Ten  of  Hearts — over  whose  scruples  she  will  triumph — 
Ace  of  Spades — the  affair  will  make  some  noise — Queen  of  Hearts 
reversed — and  greatly  distress  a  charming  fair  woman  who  loves 
him — Seven  of  Spades — but  her  grief  will  not  be  of  long  duration. 
Knave  of  Diamonds — An  unfaithful  servant — Ten  of  Clubs — will 
make  away  with  a  considerable  sum  of  money — King  of  Spades — 
and  will  be  brought  to  trial — Ei^ht  of  Diamonds — but  saved  from 
punishment  through  a  woman's  agency.  King  of  Hearts — a  fair 
man  of  liberal  disposition— Nine  of  Clubs— will  receive  a  larg« 


FOETUNE-TELLEE  AND  DEEAM-BOOK. 


213 


sum  of  money — Knave  of  Spades  reversed — which  will  expose  him 
to  the  malice  of  a  dark  j'outh  of  coarse  manners.  Seven  of 
Hearts — Pleasant  thoughts,  followed  by — Ten  of  Spades — .rreat 
chagrin — King  of  Diamonds — await  a  man  in  uniform,  vsJ.o  is  (he 
perso  i  consuting  mc — Ace  of  Diamo:ids — but  a  letter  he  will  speedily 
receive — Seven  of  Clubs — containing  a  small  sum  of  moncj' — 
Nine  of  Hearts — will  restore  his  good  spirits — Ace  of  Clubs — 
which  will  be  further  augmented  by  some  good  news."  Nov/  turn 
up  "the  surprise" — which  we  will  suppose  to  prove  the  Ace  of 
Hearts — "a  card  that  predicts  great  happiness,  caused  by  a  love-i 
letter,  but  which  making  up  the  four  Aces,  shows  that  his  sudden 
joy  will  be  followed  by  great  misfortunes." 

Now  gather  up  the  cards,  shuffle,  cut,  and  form  into  three  packs, 
at  the  first  deal  laying  one  aside  to  form  "the  surprise."  By  the 
time  they  are  all  dealt  out,  it  will  be  found  that  the  two  first 
packets  are  each  composed  of  seven  cards,  whilst  the  third  con- 
tains only  six. 

Desire  the  person  consulting  you  to  select  one  of  these,  take- it 
up,  and  spread  out  the  cards  from  left  to  right,  explaining  them  as 
before  described. 

Gather  up  the  cards  again,  shuffle,  cut,  form  into  three  packs 
(dealing  one  card  to  the  surprise),  and  proceed  as  before.  Repeat 
the  whole  operation  once  more ;  then  take  up  the  three  cards 
forming  tha  surprise,  and  you  then  give  their  interpretation. 

We  may  remark  that  no  matter  how  the  cards  are  dealt,  whether 
by  threes,  sevens,  fifteens,  or  twenty-one,  when  those  lower  than 
the  Knave  predominate,  it  foretells  success  ;  if  Clubs  arc  the  most 
numerous,  they  predict  gain,  considerable  fortune,  etc. ;  if  pioture- 
cards,  dignity  and  honor;  Hearts,  gladness,  good  news;  Spades, 
death  or  sickness.  These  significations  are  necessarily  very 
vague,  and  must  of  course  be  governed  by  the  position  of  the 
cards. 

The  Italian  Method. — Take  a  pack  composed  of  tliirty-two  selected 
cards,  viz.,  the  Ace,  King,  Queen,  Knave,  Ten,  Nine,  Eight,  and 
Seven  of  each  suit.  Shuffle  them  well,  and  either  cut  or  have 
them  cut  for  you,  according  to  whether  you  are  acting  for  yourself 
or  another  person.  Turn  up  the  cards  by  threes,  and  when  the 
triplet  is  composed  of  cards  of  the  same  suit,  lay  it  aside;  when 
of  three  different  suits,  pass  it  by  without  withdrawing  any  of  the 
three  ;  but  when  composed  of  two  of  one  suit  and  one  of  another, 
withdraw  the  highest  card  of  the  two.  When  you  have  come  to 
the  end  of  the  pack,  gather  up  all  the  cards  except  those  you  have 
withdrawn;  shuffle,  cut,  and  again  turn  up  by  threes.  Repeat  this 
operation  until  you  have  obtained  fifteen  cards,  which  must  then 
bo  spread  out  before  you,  from  left  to  right,  in  the  order  in  which 
they  come  to  hand. 


214 


FOETUNE-TELLER  AND  BREAM-BOOK. 


Care  must,  however,  be  taken  that  the  card  representing  the  per- 
son making  the  essay  is  among  them ;  if  not,  the  whole  operation 
must  be  recommenced  until  the  desired  result  is  attained.  We 
will  suppose  it  to  be  some  dark  lady— represented  by  the  Queen  of 
Clubs — who  is  anxious  to  make  the  attempt  for  herself,  and  that 
the  cards  are  laid  cut  in  the  following  order  from  left  to  right : 
Ten  of  Diamonds,  Queen  of  Clubs,  Eight  of  Hearts,  Ace  of  Dia- 
monds, Ten  of  Hearts,  Seven  of  Clubs,  King  of  Spades,  Kine  of 
Hearts,  Knave  of  Spades,  Ace  of  Clubs,  Seven  of  Spades,  Teu  of 
Spades,  Seven  of  Diamonds,  Ace  of  Spades,  Knave  of  Hearts. 

On  examining  them  you  will  find  there  are  tl;ree  Aces  among 
them,  announcing  good  news ;  but,  as  they  are  at  some  distance 
from  each  other,  that  it  may  be  some  time  before  the  tidings 
arrive. 

The  three  Tens  denote  that  the  conduct  of  the  person  consulting 
the  cards  has  not  been  always  strictly  correct.  The  two  Knaves 
are  enemies,  and  the  three  Sevens  predict  an  illness  caused  by 
them. 

You  now  begin  to  count  five  cards,  beginning  with  the  Queen  of 
Clubs,  who  represents  the  person  consulting  you.  The  fifth  card^^ 
being  the  Seven  of  Clubs,  announces  that  the  lady  will  soon  re- 
ceive a  small  sum  of  money.  The  next  fifth  card  proving  to  be 
the  Ace  of  Clubs,  signifi.es  that  this  money  will  be  accompanied 
with  very  joyful  tidings.  Next  comes  the  Ace  ci  Spades,  prom- 
ising complete  success  to  any  projects  undertaken  by  the  person 
consulting  the  cards ;  then  the  Ace  of  Hearts,  followed  at  the 
proper  interval  by  the  King  of  Spades,  showing  that  this  good 
news  will  excite  the  malice  of  a  dishonest  lawyer;  but  the  Seven 
of  Spades  coming  next,  announces  that  the  annoyance  he  can 
cause  will  be  of  short  duration,  and  that  a  gay,  lair  young  man 
— the  Knave  of  Hearts — will  soon  console  her  lor  what  she  has 
suffered.  The  Ace  of  Diamonds  tells  that  she  will  soon  receive  a 
letter  from  this  fair  young  man — the  Nino  of  Hearts — announcing 
a  great  success — Ten  of  Spades — but  this  will  bo  followed  by  some 
slight  chagrin — Ten  of  Diamonds — caused  by  a  journej- — Ten  of 
Hearts — but  it  will  soon  pass,  although— Knave  of  Spades — a  bad, 
dark  young  man  will  endeaver  to  turn  her  into  ridicule.  The 
Queen  of  Clubs,  being  representative  of  herself,  shows  that  it  is 
toward  her  the  dark  young  man's  malice  will  be  directed. 

Now  take  the  cards  at  either  extremity  of  the  line,  and  pair 
them  together.  The  two  first  being  the  Knave  of  Hearts  and  the 
Ten  of  Diamonds,  you  may  say  : 

"A  gay  young  bachelor  is  preparing  to  take  a  journey — Ace  of 
Spades  and  Queen  of  Clubs — which  will  bring  him  to  the  presence 
of  the  lady  consulting  the  cards,  and  cause  her  preat  joy.  Seven 
of  Diamonds  and  Eight  of  Hearts — Scandal  talked  about  a  fair 
young  girl.    Seven  of  Spades  and  Ten  of  Hearts — Great  joy 


FOETUNE-TELLER  AOT)  DREAM-BOOK. 


215 


mingled  with  slight  sorrow.  Seven  of  Clubs  and  Ace  of  Clubs — 
— A  letter  promising  money.  Knave  of  Spades  and  King  of  Spades 
— The  winning  of  a  lawsuit.  The  Nine  of  Hearts,  being  the  one 
<!ard  left,  promises  complete  success." 

Now  gather  up  the  cards,  shuffle,  cut,  and  deal  them  out  in  five 
packs — one  for  the  lady  herself,  one  for  "the  house,"  one  for 
"those  who  do  not  expect  it,"  one  for  "those  who  do  expect  it," 
and  one  for  "the  surprise"  in  the  first  deal,  for  "consolation." 
The  rest  are  then  equally  distributed  among  the  other  five  packs, 
which  will  four  of  them  contain  three  cards,  while  the  last  only 
consists  of  two. 

We  will  suppose  the  first  packet,  for  the  lady  herself,  to  be  com- 
posed of  the  Ace  of  Diamonds,  the  Seven  of  Clubs,  and  the  Ten 
of  Hearts.    The  interpretation  would  read  thus  : 

"  Ace  of  Diamonds — A  letter  will  be  shortly  received — Seven  of 
Clubs — announcing  the  arrival  of  a  small  sum  of  money — Ten  of 
Hearts — and  containing  some  very  joyful  tidings." 

The  second  pack,  for  "the  house,"  containing  the  King  of 
Spades,  the  Nine  of  Hearts,  and  the  Knave  of  Spades  : 

"The  person  consulting  the  cards  will  r.^ceive  a  visit — King  of 
Spades — from  a  lawyer — Nine  of  Hearts — which  will  greatly  de- 
light— Knave  of  Spades — a  dark,  ill-disposed  young  man." 

The  third  pack,  for  "those  who  do  not  expect  it,"  composed  of 
the  Ace  of  Spades,  the  Knave  of  Hearts,  and  the  Ace  of  Clubs, 
would  read : 

"  Ace  of  Spades — Pleasure  in  store  for — Knave  of  Hearts — a  gay 
young  bachelor — Ace  of  Clubs — by  means  of  money ;  but  as  the 
Knave  of  Hearts  is  placed  between  two  Aces,  it  is  evident  that  he 
runs  a  great  risk  of  being  imprisoned ;  and  from  the  two  cards 
signifying  respectively  '  pleasure '  and  'money,'  that  it  will  be  for 
having  run  into  debt." 

"The  fourth  pack,  for  "those  who  do  expect  it,"  containing  the 
Eight  of  Hearts,  the  Queen  of  Clubs,  and  the  Ten  of  Diamonds  : 

"  The  Eight  of  Hearts — The  love  affairs  of  a  fair  young  girl  will 
oblige — the  Queen  of  Clubs — the  person  consulting  the  cards — Ten 
of  Diamonds — to  take  a  journey." 

The  fifth  pack,  for  "the  surprise,"  consists  of  the  Seven  of 
Spades  and  the  Ten  of  Spades,  meaning  : 

"Seven  of  Spades — Slight  trouble — Ten  of  Spades — caused  by 
Bome  person's  imprisonment — the  card  of  consolation.  Seven  of 
Diamonds — which  will  turn  out  to  have  been  a  mere  report." 

Present,  Pasf,  and  Future. — The  person  wishing  to  try  her  fortune 
in  this  manner  (we  will  suppose  her  to  be  a  young,  fair  person, 
represented  by  the  Eight  of  Hearts),  must  well  shufile,  and  cut 
with  the  left  hand,  the  pack  of  thirty-two  cards  ;  after  which  she 
must  lay  aside  the  topmost  and  undermost  cards,  to  form  the  sur- 


216 


FOKTUNE-TELLER  AND  DEEAM-BOOK. 


prise.  There  will  now  remain  thirty  cards,  which  must  be  dealt 
out  in  three  parcels — one  to  the  leit,  one  in  the  middle,  and  one  to 
the  right. 

The  left-hand  pack  represents  the  Past ;  the  middle,  the  Present ; 
and  the  one  on  the  right  hand,  the  Future.  She  must  commence 
with  the  ' '  Past,"  which  we  will  suppose  to  contain  these  ten  cards : 
The  King  of  Clubs,  the  Ace  of  Spades,  the  Knave  of  Diamonds,  the 
Nine  of  Diamonds,  the  Ace  of  Hearts,  the  linave  of  Hearts,  the 
Queen  of  Hearts,  the  King  of  Spades,  the  Knave  of  Clubs,  and  the 
King  of  Hearts. 

She  would  rem.ark  that  picture-cards  predominating  was  a 
favorable  sign,  also  that  the  presence  of  three  Kings  proved  that 
powerful  persons  were  interesiirg  themselves  in  her  ailairs.  The 
three  Knaves,  however,  warn  her  to  beware  of  false  friends,  and 
the  Nine  of  Diamonds  predicts  some  great  annoyance  overcome  by 
some  good  and  amiable  person  represented  by  the  Queen  of  Hearts. 
The  two  Aces  also  give  notice  of  a  plot.  Taking  the  cards  in  the 
order  they  lay,  the  explanation  would  run  thus  : 

"  The  King  of  Clubs— A  frank,  open-hearted  man — Ace  of  Spades 
— fond  of  gaj-ety  and  pleasure,  is  disliked  by — Knave  of  Diamonds 
— a  young  man  in  uniform — Nine  of  Diamonds — who  seeks  to 
injure  him.  The  Ace  of  Hearts — A  love-letter — Knave  of  Hearts — 
from  a  gay  young  bachelor  to  a  fair,  amiable  woman — Queen  of 
Hearts — causes — King  of  Spades — a  lawyer  to  endeavor  to  injure 
a  clever — Knave  of  Clubs — enterprising  young  man,  who  is  saved 
from  him  by— King  of  Hearts — a  good  and  powerful  man.  Never- 
theless, as  the  Knave  of  Clubs  is  placed  between  two  similar 
cards,  he  has  run  great  risk  of  being  imprisoned  through  the 
machinations  of  his  enemy." 

The  second  parcel,  "the  Present,"  containing  the  Ten  of  Dia- 
monds, the  Nine  of  Spades,  the  Eight  of  Spades,  the  Queen  of 
Diamonds,  the  Queen  of  Clubs,  the  Eight  of  Hearts,  the  Seven  of 
Spades,  the  Ten  of  Spades,  the  Eight  of'  Diamonds,  signifies  : 

"The  Ten  of  Diamonds — A  voyage  or  journey,  at  that  moment 
taking  place — Nine  of  Spades — caused  by  the  death  or  dangerous 
illness  of  some  one — Eight  of  Spades — whose  state  will  occasion 
great  grief — Queen  of  Diamonds — to  a  fair  woman.  The  Queen 
of  Clubs — An  affectionate  woman  seeks  to  console — Eight  of 
Hearts — a  fair  young  girl,  who  is  the  person  making  the  essaj' — 
Seven  of  Spades — who  has  secret  griefs — Ten  of  Spades — causing 
her  many  tears — Queen  of  Spades — these  are  occasioned  by  the 
conduct  of  either  a  dark  woman  or  a  widow,  who — Eight  of  Dia- 
monds— is  her  rival." 

The  third  packet  of  cards,  "the  Future,"  we  will  suppose  to 
contain  the  Eight  of  Clubs,  the  Ten  of  Clubs,  the  Seven  of  Dia- 
monds, the  Ten  of  Hearts,  the  Seven  of  Clubs,  the  Nine  of  Heaits, 


FORTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK.  217 


the  Ace  of  Diamonds,  the  Knave  of  Spades,  the  Seven  of  Hearts, 
the  Nine  of  Clubs,  which  would  read  thus  : 

"In  the  first  place,  the  largo  number  of  small  cards  foretells 
success  in  enterprises,  although  the  presence  of  three  Sevens  pre- 
dicts an  illness.  The  Eight  of  Clubs — a  dark  young  girl — Ten  of 
Clubs — is  about  to  inherit  a  large  fortune — Seven  of  Diamonds — 
but  her  satirical  disposition  will  destroy — Ten  of  Hearts — nil  her 
happiness.  Seven  of  Clubs — A  little  money  and — Nine  of  Hearts 
— much  305' — Ace  of  Hearts — will  be  announced  to  the  person 
making  the  essay  by  a  letter,  and — Knave  of  Spades — a  wild  young 
man — Seven  of  Hearts — will  be  overjoyed  at  receiving — Nine  of 
Clubs — some  unexpected  tidings.  The  cards  of  surprise — viz., 
the  King  of  Diamonds  and  the  Ace  of  Clubs — predict  that  a  letter 
will  be  received  from  some  military  man,  and  that  it  will  contain 
money." 

Hymen's  Loitery. — Let  each  one  present  deposit  any  sum  agreed 
on,  but  of  course  some  trifle;  put  a  complete  pack  of  fifty-two 
cards,  well  shuffled,  in  a  bag  or  reticule.  Let  the  party  stand  in  a 
circle,  and,  the  bag  being  handed  around,  each  draw  three  cards. 
Pairs  of  any  are  favorable  omens  of  some  good  fortune  about  to 
occur  to  the  party,  and  gets  back  from  the  pool  the  sum  that  each 
agreed  to  pay.  The  king  of  hearts  is  here  made  the  god  of  love, 
and  claims  double,  and  gives  a,  faithful  swain  to  the  fair  one  who 
has  the  good  fortune  to  draw  him  ;  if  Yenus,  the  queen  of  hearts, 
is  with  him,  it  is  the  conquering  prize,  and  clears  the  pool ;  fives 
and  nines  are  reckoned  crosses  and  misfortunes,  and  pay  a  forfeit 
of  the  sum  agreed  on  to  the  pool,  beside  the  usual  stipend  at  each 
new  game ;  three  nines  at  one  draw  shows  the  lady  v/ill  be  an  old 
maid  ;  and  three  fives,  a  bad  husband. 

Good  and  Bad  Omens. — The  word  omen  is  well  known  to  signify 
a  sign,  good  or  bad,  or  a  prognostic.  It  may  be  defined  to  be  that 
indication  of  something  future  whicn  vro  get  as  it  were  by  accident, 
and  without  seeking  for.  A  superstitious  regard  to  omens  seems 
anciently  to  have  made  very  considerable  additions  to  the  common 
load  of  infelicity.  They  are  in  these  enlightened  days  pretty  gen- 
erally disregarded,  and  we  look  back  with  perfect  security  and  in- 
difference on  those  trivial  and  truly  ridiculous  accidents  which  al- 
ternately afforded  matter  of  joy  and  sorrow  to  our  ancestors. 
Omens  appear  to  have  been  so  numerous,  that  we  must  despair  of 
ever  being  able  to  recover  one-half  of  them  ;  and  to  evince  that  in 
all  ages  men  have  been  self-tcrmentors,  the  bad  omens  fill  a  cata- 
logue infinitely  more  extensive  than  that  of  the  good.  An  exten- 
sive set  of  omens  has  been  taken  from  what  first  happens  to  one, 
or  what  animal  or  person  one  meets  first  in  the  morning,  or  at  the 
commencement  of  an  undertaking — the  first-foot,  as  it  is  called. 


218 


FORTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


To  stumble  has  universally  been  held  to  presage  misfortune. 
Some  semblance  of  a  reason  might  be  found  for  this  belief,  inas- 
much as  stumbling  may  be  supposed  to  indicate  that  that  self-pos- 
session and  conscious  courage,  which  arc  in  themselves  half  a  vic- 
tory over  circumstances,  are  lacking — the  Vv'antof  them,  therefore, 
being  hrJf  a  defeat ;  but  in  most  cases  the  interpretation  seems  al- 
together arbitrary.  The  dread  of  a  hare  crossing  the  path  seems 
to  be  widely  prevalent ;  while  to  see  a  wolf  is  a  good  omen.  This 
feeling  is  probably  a  remnant  of  war-like  times,  when  the  timid 
hare  suggested  thoughts  of  cov^-ardice  and  flight ;  while  the  bold 
wolf-,  sacred  to  Odin,  was  emblematic  of  victory.  The  character 
of  the  hare  for  being  unlucky  is  also  connected  with  the  deep- 
rooted  belief  that  witches  arc  in  the  habit  of  transforming  them- 
selves into  hares.  That  to  meet  an  old  woman  is  unlucky,  is  an- 
other very  general  belief;  arising,  without  doubt,  from  the  same 
causes  that  led  to  their  being  considered  witches.  In  some  places 
women  in  general  are  unlucky  as  first-foot,  with  the  singular  ex- 
ception of  women  of  bad  reputation.  This  belief  prevailed  as  far 
back  as  the  age  of  Chrysostom. 

Priests,  too,  are  ominous  of  evil.  If  hunters  of  old  met  a  priest 
or  friar,  they  coupled  up  their  hounds  and  went  home  in  despair  of 
any  further  sport  that  day.  This  superstition  seems  to  have  died 
out,  except  in  the  case  of  sailors,  who  still  consider  the  clergy  a 
"  kittle  cargo,"  as  a  Scotch  skipper  expressed  it,  and  anticipate  a 
storm  or  mischance  when  they  have  a  black  coat  on  board.  This 
seems  as  old  as  the  Prophet  Jonah.  Sneezing,  likewise,  has  long 
been  looked  upon  as  supernatural,  for  this  reason,  that  it  is  sud- 
den, unaccountable,  uncontrollable,  and  therefore  ominous.  The 
person  is  considered  as  possessed  for  the  time,  and  a  form  of  ex- 
orcism is  used.  A  nurse  would  not  think  she  ha.d  done  her  duty,  if, 
when  her  charge  sneezes,  she  did  not  say,  "Bless  the  child,"  just 
as  the  Greeks,  more  than  tvvo  thousand  years  ago,  were  in  the  in- 
variable habit  of  saying,  "Zeus  protect  thee." 

One  general  remark,  however,  it  is  important  to  make  in  regard 
to  omens.  A.n  omen  is  not  conceived  to  be  a  mere  sign  of  what  is 
destined  to  be — it  is  conceived  as  causing,  in  some  mysterious 
way,  the  event  it  forebodes ;  and  the  consequence,  it  is  thought, 
may  be  prevented  by  some  counteracting  charm.  Thus  the  spill- 
ing of  salt  not  only  forebodes  strife,  but  strife  is  conceived  as  the 
consequence  of  the  spilling  of  the  salt,  and  may  be  hindered  by 
taking  up  the  spilled  salt,  and  throvving  it  over  the  left  shoulder. 
Perhaps  half  the  superstitious  beliefs  that  yet  survive  among  civi- 
lized and  Christian  communities  frroup  themselves  round  the  sub- 
ject of  love  and  marriage — of  sucli  very  ijiter.se  interest  to  all,  yet 
so  mysterious  in  its  origin,  and  problematic  in  its  issue.  The  lik- 
ing or  passion  for  one  individual,  rather  thrin  any  other,  is  so  un- 
ftccoimtable,  that  the  god  of  lovo  has  been  fabled  blind ;  it  is  of 


rOKTUNE-TELLER  AND  DEEAM-BOOK. 


219 


the  nature  of  fascination,  magic,  spell.  And  then,  whether  happi- 
ness or  the  reverse  shall  be  the  result,  seems  beyond  the  reach  of 
ordinary  calculation.  All  is  apparently  given  over  to  mystery, 
chance,  fortune ;  and  any  circumstances  may,  for  what  we  know, 
influence  or  indicate  what  fortune's  wheel  shall  bring  round. 
Hence  the  innumerable  ways  of  prognosticating  which  of  two  or 
more  persons  shall  be  first  married,  who  or  what  manner  of  per- 
son shall  be  the  future  husband  or  wife,  the  number  of  children, 
etc.  It  is  generally  at  particular  seasons,  as  at  the  Eve  of  St. 
Agnes,  and  Halloween,  that  the  veil  of  the  future  may  bo  thus  lifted. 

The  observation  of  lucky  and  unlucky  days  v/as  once  an  impor- 
tant matter,  and  was  often  the  turning  point  of  great  events.  It  is 
now  mostly  confined  to  the  one  subject  of  marriage.  In  fixing  the 
wedding-day,  May  among  months  and  Friday  among  days  aro 
shunned  by  many  people,  both  in  educated  and  uneducated  circles ; 
for  in  this  matter,  which  is  the  exclusive  province  of  women,  and 
in  which  sentiment  and  fancy  are  in  every  way  so  much  more 
active  than  reason,  the  educated  and  uneducated  are  reduced  to  a 
level. 

A  Book  of  Precedents,  published  in  London  in  IGIG,  contains  a 
Calendar,  many  of  the  days  in  which  have  the  letter  B  afiQxed, 

which  signifieth  such  days  as  the  Egyptians  note  to  be  danger- 
ous to  begin  or  take  anything  in  hand,  as  to  take  a  journey  or  any 
such  like  thing." 

The  ancients  thought  that  some  hours  in  the  day  were  fatal  to 
life,  and  modern  testimony  corroborates  this  theory.  A  writer  in 
the  '  Quarterly  Review,' having  ascertained  the  hour  of  death  in 
2,880  instances  of  all  ages,  has  arrived  at  this  conclusion  :  "  The 
maximum  of  death  is  from  5  to  G  o'clock,  A.  M.,  when  it  is  40  per 
cent,  above  the  average ;  the  next,  during  the  hour  before  mid- 
night, when  it  is  25  per  cent,  in  excess ;  a  third  hour  of  excess  is 
that  from  9  to  10  o'clock  in  the  morning,  being  17A  per  cent,  above. 
From  10  A.  M.  to  3  P.  M.  the  deaths  are  less  numerous,  being  16 
per  cent,  below  the  average,  the  hour  before  noon  being  the  most 
fatal.  From  3  o'clock  P  .M.  to  7  P.  M.,  the  deaths  rise  to  5  per 
cent,  above  the  average,  and  then  fall  from  that  hour  to  11  P.  M., 
averaging  G  per  cent,  below  the  mean.  During  the  hours  from  9 
to  11  o'clock  in  the  evening  there  i*s  a  minimum  of  G  per  cent,  be- 
low the  average.  Thus  the  least  mortality  is  during  midday  hours 
— namely,  from  10  to  3  o'clock ;  the  greatest  during  early  morning 
hours,  from  3  to  G  o'clock." 

•'Nail  gifts"  aro  white  specks  on  the  finger-nails;  which,  ac- 
cording to  their  respective  situations,  are  believed  to  predict  cer- 
tain events,  as  indicated  in  the  following  couplet,  which  is  repeated 
while  touching  the  thumb  and  each  finger  in  succession : 

A  gift,  a  friend,  a  foe, 

A  lover  to  come,  a  journey  to  go. 


220 


FOETUNE-TEIXER  AND  DEEAM-BOOK. 


DEEAMS  AND  THEIE  INTEEPEETATIONS. 

To  dream  of — 

A  Lion. — Portends  future  dignity.  (Captive)  Lasting  friendship. 
(Surprised  by  one)  Treacliery  on  the  part  of  a  friend.  (To  kill 
one)  Success,  rapid  fortune.  (To  overcome  one)  Great  success. 
(To  hear  one  roar)  Danger. 

A  Lioness. — Security,  ])enovolence,  watchfulness. 

A  Lions  Cub. — Friendship,  protection. 

A  TiGEE. — Fierce  enmity.  (To  kill  one)  Great  triumph  obtained 
over  enemies.  (To  pursue  one)  A  trap  laid  which  the  dreamer  will 
know  how  to  avoid. 

A  Leopaed. — Ostentation,  wickedness.  (To  surprise  one) 
Pride  brought  down.     (To  pursue  one)  Triumph  over  evil  reports. 

A  Beak. — Danger,  persecution.  (To  kill  one)  Honor,  dignity, 
and  power.  (To  pursue  one)  Annoying  persecution,  from  which 
the  dreamer  will  llnd  it  difficult  to  extricate  himself. 

An  Elephant. — Power.  (To  mount  one)  Foolish  and  injurious 
ostentation.  (To  feed  one)  A  service  which  will  be  rendered  the 
dreamer. 

A  Zebea. — Betrayed  by  a  friend. 

A  Wild  Boae. — Bitter  enemies.    (To  chase  one)  Useless  labors. 
(To  kill  one)  A  victory  gained  by  enemies.    (Furious)  Separation 
An  Ape. — Enemies,  deceit. 

A  Camel. — Eiches.  (A  Caravan)  A  quickly  dissipated  fortune. 
A  POECUPINE. — Business  embarrassments. 

A  ToETOiSE  OE  TuETLE. — Delays  and  vexations  in  business.  (To 
eat")  Adjustment  of  affairs. 

A  Seepent. — Ingratitude,  betrayed  friendship.  (Uncoiled)  Trea- 
son of  some  one  under  obligations  to  the  dreamer.  (Hydra-head- 
ed) Temptations,  subtlety. 

WoEMS. — Contagious  disease. 

A  HoESE. — Good  fortune.  {To  mount  one)  Success  in  enter- 
prises. (To  kill  one)  Disunion,  grief.  (Black)  Partial  success. 
(White)  Unexpected  good  fortune.  (To  see  one  wounded)  Failure 
in  undertakings.    (To  shoe  one)  Good  luck. 

A  Make. — Abundance. 

An  Ass. — A  quarrel  between  friends.  (Eeposing)  Security. 
(Trotting)  Disappointed  hopes.  (To  hear  one  bray)  Dishonor.  (To 
see  one's  cars)  Great  scandal.  (To  kill  one)  Loss.  (One  heavily 
laden)  Profit.    (To  shoe  one)  Hard  and  useless  toil. 

A  Mule. — Obstinacy,  loss  of  a  lawsuit. 

A  Cow. — Prosperity,  abundance. 

A  Calf. — Certain  gain. 

A  Bull. — Gain.  (To  kill  one)  Affliction.  (To  drive  one)  Gaiety. 
(Black)  Deception,  cheating.    (In  motion)  A  secret  divulged. 


FORTUNE-TELLER  AKD  DREAM-BOOK. 


221 


(At  work)  Fortune.  (Drinking)  A  theft.  (Without  horns)  Pecula- 
tion.   (Fighting  with  another)  Fraternal  affection. 

A  Goat. — (White)  Prosperity.  (Black)  Sickness,  an  uncertain 
lawsuit. 

A  Stag. — Gain.    (To  kill  one)  Scandal  propagated  in  the  neigh- 
borhood.   (To  chase  one)  Loss  through  a  failure  in  business. 
A  Fawn.— Peril. 
A  Pig. — Assured  gain. 
A  Kam. — A  shameless  person. 
A  Sheep. — Great  gain. 

Lambs. — (In  the  fields)  Peace,  tranquility.  (To  keep  them) 
Profit.  (To  carry  one)  Success.  (To  buy  one)  Great  surprise'. 
(To  kill  one)  Secret  grief.  (To  lind  one)  Gain  of  a  lawsuit.  (To 
eat)  Tears. 

A  Cat. — Treason.  (To  kill  one)  An  averted  danger.  (Enraged) 
Family  quarrels, 

A  Dog. — (To  play  with  one)  To  suffer  for  former  extravagance. 
(To  hunt  with  one)  Hope.  (One  running)  loss  of  a  lawsuit.  (To 
hear  one  howling)  Great  danger.  (To  lose  one)  Want  of  success. 
(One  frisking  about)  Loss  of  a  friend.  (Two  lighting)  A  warning 
to  beware  of  false  friends.    (One  barking)  Alarm,  quarrels. 

A  Hare. — Fear,  innocence.  (To  kill  one)  Profit.  (One  running) 
Great  wealth  quickly  dissipated. 

A  Rabbit. — (Black)  Trouble.  (White)  Friendship.  (A  warren) 
Expensive  pleasures. 

Eats. — Secret  enemies,  treason.  (White)  Triumph  of  the  dream- 
er over  them. 

Mice. — Business  affairs  embarrassed  through  the  machinations 
of  dangerous  friends. 
A  Weasel.— Cunning. 

A  Fox.— A  ruse  to  which  the  dreamer  will  fall  a  victim.  (Killed) 
Triumph  over  enemies.  (Petted)  Abuse  of  confidence,  unfortunate 
undertaking. 

A  Wolf. — Enmity.  (To  kill  one)  Gain,  success.  (To  pursue  one) 
Dangers  averted  or  overcome. 

A  Cock. — Pride,  success,  power.  (A  fight  between  two)  Expen- 
sive follies. 

A  Hen. — Profit,  considerable  gain.  (Clucking)  Consolation. 
(Laying)  Good  fortune,  joy.    (Witli  chicks)  Precarious  favor. 

A  Chicken. — Lasting  friendship,  innocence.  (To  kill  one)  De- 
lay in  money  affairs. 

A  Duck  or  Goose. — Profit  and  pleasure.  (To  kill  one)  Misfor- 
tune.   (To  catch  one)  Snare  laid  for  the  dreamer. 

A  Turkey.— Injurious  folly. 

A  Pheasant.— Good  fortune.  (To  kill  one)  Peril.  (To  carry 
one)  Honor. 

A  Peacock.— Pride,  vanity,  unbounded  ambition.  (Spreading 


222 


FOBTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK, 


its  tail)  Ostentation.  (Screaming)  An  approaching  storm,  which 
will  do  some  damage  to  the  dreamer. 

Larks. — Eiches.    (Roasted)  An  accident  in  the  dreamer's  houso. 

An  Eagle.— (On  the  wing)  Ambition.  (To  kill  one)  Gratified 
wishes.    (To  eat  one)  Deep  grief.    (To  see  one  dead)  A  loss. 

A  VuiiTURE. — A  bitter  enemy.  (To  kill  one)  Triumph  over  foes. 
(To  see  one  devouring  its  prey)  A  good  omen  of  returning  fortune. 

A  Falcon. — Increase  of  fortune.    (On  the  wrist)  Pleasure. 

A  Spareow-Hawk. — Undying  hatred. 

A  ScREECH-OwL. — Near  death  of  a  relation. 

A  Dove. — Happiness  at  home. 

TuRTLE-DovES.— Fidelity,  love. 

A  Pigeon. — Reconciliation. 

A  Raven. — Misfortune,  bad  omen.  (A  troop)  Disasters.  (Croak- 
ing) Mourning,  sadness.    (On  the  wing)  Tidings  of  a  death. 

A  Crow.-  Refusal  of  an  offer  of  marriage. 

Storks.— Robbery.    (In  winter)  Some  great  misfortune. 

Swans. — Riches,  if  the  dreamer  does  not  reveal  his  dream  to 
any  one. 

A  Cuckoo. — A  bad  omen.    (To  hear  one)  Sign  of  mourning. 

A  Swallow. — Complete  success  in  all  enterprises.  (To  see  its 
nest)  Happiness  and  good  fortune.  (For  it  to  enter  the  dreamer's 
house)  Lasting  friendship. 

A  Blackbird. — Scandal,  deceit. 

A  Nightingale. — A  happy  and  well-assorted  marriage. 

A  Parrot. — Slander,  a  dangerous  neighbor. 

Birds. — A  journey.    (Singing)  Profit,  pleasure,  and  succest. 

A  Nest. — A  happy  omen,  increase  of  fortune. 

A  Canary. — Death  of  a  friend,  sudden  departure. 

Reptiles. — A  cunning  and  dangerous  enemy. 

A  Crocodile. — A  catastrophe. 

Frogs. — Distrust.  (To  see  them  hopping)  Annoyance,  vexation. 
Toads.— Disgust. 

Bees. — Gain,  profit.  (To  catch  them)  Success.  (To  be  stungby 
them)  A  loss  at  law. 

Flies. — Jealousy  excited  by  the  dreamer's  success. 

A  Spider. — (At  night)  Success,  money.  (In  the  morning)  law- 
suit.   (To  kill  one)  Pleasure. 

A  Butterfly. — Inconstancy. 

Fleas,  Etc. — Weariness,  disgust  for  life.    (To  kill  one)  Triumph 
obtained  over  enemies. 
A  Leech. — Help,  protection. 

A  Grasshopper. — Loss  of  the  proceeds  of  a  harvest. 
A  Cockchafer. — Bad  harvest. 
Wasps. — Annoyance  caused  by  enemies. 
Ants. — Idleness,  negligence. 

HzAiiDS, — Ambush  laid  by  distant  enemies  for  the -dreamer. 


rORTUNE-TELLEB  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


223 


Snail.— Debauchery,  infidelity. 

Fish.— Joy,    success.    (Red)   Delight,  contentment.  (Dead) 
Quarrels,  suffering.    (To  catch  them)  Will  be  deceived  by  friends. 
Salmon. — Deceit.    (To  eat)  Disunion  in  the  family  circle. 
Trout. — Eays  of  hope. 
Mackerel. — Robbery,  bad  conduct. 
Soles. — Poverty,  misery. 

Eels. — (Alive)  Labor.    (Dead)  Satisfied  vengeance. 
Oysters.— Disgust,  gluttony.    (To  eat  them)  Low  pleasures. 
Crabs. — A  ruinous  lawsuit. 

Apples. — Gain,  profit.    (To  be  eating)  Disappointment. 

Pears. — Treachery.  (To  eat)  Tidings  oi  a  death.  (To  gather) 
Approaching  festivities. 

Plums. — Pleasiu-e,  happiness.  (Green)  Unchanging  friendship. 
(Dried)  Obstacles  to  the  ureamer's  wishes.  (Out  of  season)  Dan- 
ger. 

Peaches.  — Pleasure,  contentm ent. 
Apricots. — Health,  contentment. 
Almonds. — Peace,  happiness. 

Cherries.— Health.  (To  gather  them)  Deception  by  a  woman. 
(To  eat  them)  Love. 

Currants.— (Red)  Friendship.  (White)  Satisfaction.  (Black) 
Infidelity. 

A  Pomegranate. — Power. 

Figs.— Momentary  pleasure.    (Dried)  Festivity.    (Green)  Hope. 

(To  eat  them)  Reverses. 
Strawberries. — Unexpected  good  fortune. 
A  Melon.  — Hope,  success. 
Chestnuts. — Home  troubles. 

Nuts.— Gratified  ambition.    (If  dry)  Troubles  and  difficulties. 
Oranges. — Amusement.    (To  eat  one)  Pleasure. 
Medlars. — Short-lived  happiness. 
Olives. — Dignities,  honors. 

Grapes. — Rejoicings,  enjoyment.  (To  eat  them)  Joy,  gain. 
(To  gather  them)  Considerable  increase  of  fortune.  (To  throw 
them  away)  Loss,  care,  and  bitterness.  (To  trample  them  under 
foot)  Abundance. 

The  Vintage.— Great  gain. 

Fruits  in  General. — Rejoicings,  gain,  profit.  (To  eat  them)  A 
sign  that  the  dreamer  will  be  deceived  by  a  woman.  (To  throw 
them  away)  Troubles  caused  ^y  the  envy  of  others. 

A  Garden.— Happiness,  bright  days  to  come.  (Well  kept)  In- 
crease of  fortune.    (In  disorder)  Losses,  failure  in  business. 

Flowers. — Happiness.  (To  gather)  Lasting  friendship.  (To 
cast  away)  Despair,  quarrels. 

A  Bouquet.— (To  carry  one)  Marriage.  (To  destroy  one)  Separa- 
tion.  (To  throw  one  away)  Displeasure. 


224 


FORTUNE-TELLER  AND  DREAM-BOOK. 


A  Gakland. — Hope. 

EosES.— Always  of  happy  omen.  (Full-blown)  Health,  joy,  and 
abundance.  (Faded)  Success,  prompt  but  dangerous.  (White) 
Innocence.    (Red)  Satisfaction.    (Yellow)  Jealousy. 

Thorns.— Pain,  disappointment.  (To  be  pricked  by  them)  Loss 
of  money. 

MyetiiE. — Declaration  of  love. 

Orange  Blossom. — Approaching  marriage. 

Violets. — Complete  success  in  all  undertakings.  (Out  of  sea- 
son) Newly  awakened  affection. 

Laurel. — Honor,  gain. 

Holly. — Annoyance. 

Thistle. — Folly,  approaching  dispute. 

Cypress. — Despair,  death  of  a  cherished  object. 

Yegetables. — Wearisome  toil.  (To  gather  them)  Quarrels. 
.)To  eat  them)  Losses  in  business. 

Cabbage. — Health,  long  life. 

Cauliflower.  — Sickness,  infidelity. 

Beans. — Criticism.    (Green)  Considerable  loss, 

Pe.\s. — Good  fortune. 

Asparagus. — Profit,  success. 

Artichokes.  — Pain,  embarrassment. 

Tdrnips. — Annoyance,  disappointment. 

Cucumbers.  — Serious  indisposition. 

Onions. — Dispute  with  inferiors. 

Leeks. — Labor. 

Lettuce. — Poverty. 

Garlic. — A  woman's  deception. 
-  KuE. — Family  annoyances. 

Herbs. — Prosperity.    (To  eat)  Grief. 

Corn. — Riches. 

Hay. — Abundance,  happiness.    (To  mow  it)  Grief. 
AVhe  at. —Money . 
Barley. — Good  fortune. 
Straw.— Poverty. 

The  Harvest. — Wealth  gained  by  a  country  life. 
A  Reaper. — A  picnic  party. 
Mills. — A  legacy  from  a  relative. 

To  Grind.— (Corn)  Abundance.  (Pepper)  Affliction.  (Coffee) 
Sleaplessness. 

A  Barn. — (Full)  Wealthy  marriage.  (Empty)  Distress.  (On 
fire)  Considerable  gain. 

.Trees. — (Green)  Hope.  (Shattered  by  a  storm)  Domestic  quar- 
rels. (Withered)  Grief.  (Leafless)  Deceit.  (In  bud)  Success.  (Cut 
down)  A  robbery.    (To  climb  one)  Change  of  employment. 

Green  Oak.— Health,  strength.  (Cut  down  -or  dead)  Heavy 
losses. 


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